In a recent interview with The Guardian's Charlotte Edwardes, Adichie, aged 47, discussed the pressure of public interest in her life and her experiences with personal loss. She explained the importance of maintaining distance from her private life, particularly regarding her children.
Adichie expressed her desire to protect her children from public scrutiny, stating that while she doesn’t mind them being mentioned, she prefers that the focus not shift to them.
“I want to protect my children,” she said. “I’m OK with having them mentioned, but I don’t want the piece to become about them.”
For many years, the award-winning writer kept significant parts of her life hidden, including her marriage to Dr. Ivara Esege, a physician, whom she married in 2009. She intentionally chose to keep this aspect of her life private.
Adichie noted that her reserved nature stems from the intense curiosity surrounding personal lives in Nigeria, which makes her hesitant to open up.
At 47, she humorously referred to herself as being at a “grand old age” and admitted that she sometimes forgets her age. While handling the challenges of motherhood, she worked on her upcoming novel, Dream Count, which took longer to complete than she initially planned.
Set for release on March 3, 2025, Dream Count tells the stories of four women while exploring themes like migration, cultural identity, and the challenges of marriage and motherhood. This book marks her return to fiction after more than ten years, a break that she didn’t intend to take.
Adichie explained that the demands of motherhood created obstacles that made writing fiction particularly tough for her.
She didn't want to go years without publishing a novel. After becoming pregnant, she faced a creative block that left her anxious about ever writing again.
She found that while she could write nonfiction, fiction, which she loves most, felt out of reach for several years.
Her breakthrough came while writing Notes on Grief, a book completed in 2021 following her father’s death in 2020. During her process of mourning, she noticed a change in her creativity.
As Adichie struggled to express her grief, she felt a shift that made her more open to creating again. This change allowed her to rediscover the flow she had missed in fiction.
In 2021, she also lost her mother, which she initially found hard to articulate. However, as she worked on Dream Count, she realized that the novel served as a tribute to her mother.
“Only when I was almost done did I realise, my God, it’s about my mother. It wasn’t intentional. I’m happy that it’s not a sad book. She wouldn’t want a sad book dedicated to her,” she said.