February 6, 2025
News

An honour, burden of responsibility acquiring Chimamanda Adichie’s ‘Dream Count’ for Nigeria, says publisher

anote
  • January 12, 2025
  • 4 min read
An honour, burden of responsibility acquiring Chimamanda Adichie’s ‘Dream Count’ for Nigeria, says publisher

By Anote Ajeluorou

FIRST teaser a few days ago to reveal the cover of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s latest novel Dream Count due to be released globally on March 4, 2025 described the book thus, “This bold cover – featuring silver stars, a lone house and a tree against a bed of night – captures the evocative beauty and power that soar throughout the language of the book.” And Nigerian readers will also be among the first to read the new novel that has taken 10 years in coming after Adichie’s Americanah in 2015.

Making this revelation weekend was the co-founder of Narrative Landscape Press (NLP), Adichie’s Nigerian publisher, Dr. Eghosa Imasuen, who has put out a pre-order notice to Nigerian readers – orders@narrativelandscape.com. Pre-orders for hardback and paperback are said to be available on NLP’s website and Roving Heights bookstores. It will be recalled that only a few weeks ago, NLP announced its bold entry into East Africa, specifically in Kenya as NLP-East Africa, a testament to its energetic drive to bridge Africa’s literary book trade.

Also described as a “luxuriously layered new novel” (The Telegraph, UK) by the best-selling and award-winning author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists, Dream Count is the story of four women and their loves, longings, and desires. Adichie trains her fierce eye on these women in a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself. Is true happiness ever attainable or is it just a fleeting state? And how honest must we be with ourselves in order to love, and to be loved? Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant and unflinching observations on the human heart. It confirms Adichie’s status as one of the most exciting and dynamic writers on the literary landscape.

What does this acquisition mean for a small but forward-looking Narrative Landscape Press? Dr. Imasuen is ecstatic about publishing Adichie locally, but is also humbled by the burden of expectation on a young NLP to deliver up to the standard of reputable first generation publishing firms operating in the global North, saying, “Acquiring the rights to publish Chimamanda Adichie’s first novel in 10 years is an honour that is tempered by a paralysing knowledge of this burden of responsibility. Knowing that Narrative Landscape Press has been assigned the rights to the Nigerian edition and that our production will be compared with those of our esteemed colleagues at Knopf in the US and 4th Estate in the UK, as well as those of the French, German, Italian and other translated editions, meant that we took our time with the everything.

Img 20250112 Wa0003

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie PHOTO: COURTESY THE AUTHOR

“We are happy that we will be able to release our edition on the same date as the worldwide release. In preparation for this, we have announced pre-orders for the most ardent of Adichie’s readership. Those who take part in this time-limited exercise will receive their copies a week before March 4, 2025 when everyone else in the world gets theirs, and all will enjoy a significant discount on our edition’s eventual list price.

“We have also produced this first Nigerian edition in hardcover and paperback, so that it is affordable for many readers. Our production of our cover design is something that we are looking forward to. You see the cover design is in silver and black. The printers have assured us that readers who hold the book will feel the soft texture of the lamination. The inside of the book then presents the multi-colour of a design that uses artwork by Victor Ehikhamenor. Readers will each have a work of art in their hands!”

After 10 years, expectations are high on what Adichie will deliver in Dream Count, but Dr. Imasuen assured that Adichie’s “understated skills” will shine through, promising also that the celebrated writer is expected in Nigeria to promote her new offering in the summer.

According to Imasuen, “Readers will expect more of what they know of Adichie’s writing. That understated skill with words that carries a plot along. They will follow the interlinked stories of four women during the time of the Covid-19 lockdowns. They will recognise themselves in these stories and also experience new things about exquisitely-drawn characters.

“Chimamanda will be in Nigeria early in the summer of 2025 – think June 2025—to promote this book. Plans are still sketchy, but we envision a multi-city tour that will definitely include Lagos and Enugu, and possibly Abuja. Our plans also include partnerships with bookstagrammers and other influencers on social media, interviews and appearances on digital and traditional media. We hope that some sponsors will be interested in producing print runs for the general public. We are always open to proposals that will increase the audience for the book.”

Spread this:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *