This is the fourth time the Women’s Prize for Fiction has recognised Adichie.
By Abioye Damilare Samson
Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has been longlisted for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction with her newly released fourth novel, Dream Count. The book, which saw a global release on March 4, marks Adichie’s return to fiction after over a decade, following the success of Americanah (2013), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Described as “a publishing event 10 years in the making”, Dream Count follows the lives of four women who navigate identity, social expectations, and immigration between Nigeria and the United States. The novel also explores themes such as romantic disappointments, career struggles, COVID-19 paranoia, and women’s health.
This is the fourth time the Women’s Prize for Fiction has recognised Adichie. Half of a Yellow Sun, her celebrated novel set during the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, won the prize—then known as the Orange Prize—in 2007.
The novel was also named the Women’s Prize for Fiction Winner of Winners in a special award during the prize’s 25th anniversary. Her debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, was longlisted in 2004.
The Women’s Prize for Fiction was founded in 1996 with the aim “to celebrate and promote fiction by women to the widest range of readers possible”. The prize is awarded annually to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom in the previous year.
Other longlisted authors include Aria Aber, Kaliane Bradley, Jenni Daiches, Saraid de Silva, Karen Jennings, Miranda July, Laila Lalami, and others. The award’s shortlist will be announced on April 24, 2025, while the winner will be announced on June 13, 2025. The winner will receive £30,000 and the “Bessie,” a bronze statuette created by artist Grizel Niven.