HarperCollins UK imprint Fourth Estate, and Knopf in the US and Canada, have acquired the first novel in more than a decade from the award-winning novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Fourth Estate publishing director Publishing director Michelle Kane acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) for Adichie’s new novel, Dream Count, from Sarah Chalfant at The Wylie Agency in London. Rights have been sold in 13 territories already and the novel is sure to secure more deals at this month’s Frankfurt Book Fair.
Dream Count tells the story of four women united by friendship. Publication is scheduled for 4 March 2025. Kane said: “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of the most gifted storytellers in the world and the announcement of this new novel from her will delight readers everywhere. Dream Count is about the hunger for love and fulfilment and a fierce testament to the power of female friendship in the face of adversity, injustice, loss, and regret. Through the most searing language, Chimamanda achieves an emotional intensity that is extraordinary and her ever present sharp eye on contemporary society blazes through this novel, revealing truths and teaching lessons.”
Adichie’s work has been translated into more than 55 languages. Her novel Purple Hibiscus won the Commonwealth Writers Prize and Half of a Yellow Sun was the recipient of the Women’s Prize for Fiction “Winner of Winners” award. Americanah won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Born in Nigeria in 1977, she was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2015. In 2017, Fortune Magazine named her one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. She is a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and divides her time between the United States and Nigeria, where she leads an annual creative writing workshop.
