(CNN) — Even the most celebrated voices can fall silent. For Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the acclaimed author of “Purple Hibiscus,” “Americanah” and “Half of a Yellow Sun,” that silence stretched into years — a period marked by depression, self-doubt and the unsettling feeling that the stories she was meant to tell were locked away.
Her new novel, “Dream Count,” the first in over a decade, marks a triumphant return to fiction and a deeply personal rebirth. But getting here meant navigating one of the most challenging chapters of her life.
“In the years that I couldn’t write, I was fighting depression,” Adichie tells CNN. “Not being able to write fiction when fiction is the thing that you deeply love — it’s just a terrible place to be.”
The 47-year-old Nigerian author faced severe writer’s block, triggered by personal hardships — including her father’s 2015 kidnapping, the loss of both parents, and the demands of motherhood — which made fiction writing, her main creative outlet, nearly impossible.
She tried to distract herself, saying yes to more speaking engagements than she ordinarily would, hoping inspiration might strike on the road. But it didn’t. She would return home feeling “miserable.”
Poetry became her lifeline during this time. She immersed herself in verse, trusting that its distilled language and musicality would keep her connected to the craft.
“I read a lot more poetry in that period because I think poetry really helps with language,” she explains. “It kept me in touch with the rhythms of writing.”
Now, Adichie is back with “Dream Count,” a tender, unflinching exploration of the intertwined lives of four African women: Chiamaka, Zikora, Kadiatou, and Omelogor. Set against the isolating backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the novel is steeped in personal grief, shaped in part by the devastating loss of both her parents. Her father died of kidney failure in June 2020, and her mother less than a year later – the cause of death was never made public.
Adichie describes the novel as a departure from her earlier works. The tightly pared-down style of “Purple Hibiscus” and her early short stories has given way to something more expansive and indulgent. “I think my sentences are longer. I’m more willing to be a little indulgent. Life is so short — throw everything in, maximalism! You don’t know if you have tomorrow, so do it all now,” she says. Her rekindled love of poetry infuses the novel with a lyrical quality that marks a new phase in her creative voice.
“When the words finally returned,” she reflects, “they emerged in a new voice.” That voice, once feared lost, has come back with renewed vitality. Now, with the book out in the world, Adichie speaks with gratitude — for finishing it, for the readers who have embraced it, and for the rediscovery of her creative self. “My real self is the self that writes fiction,” she says. “I’m grateful that it’s back.”
Her journey offers both a caution and a comfort to fellow creatives. The caution: creative droughts can be emotionally brutal, and pretending otherwise helps no one. The comfort: recovery is possible, and the work will return in its own time. Her advice is pragmatic yet hopeful: “Our primary responsibility is to create. Even if it’s difficult, stay on it. We cannot afford despair.”
For Adichie, the release of “Dream Count” is more than just another book launch — it’s a reclamation of self. And for anyone navigating their own season of silence, her story is a reminder that even in darkness, the seeds of new work can take root, waiting for the right moment to bloom.
CNN’s Larry Madowo and Lamide Akintobi contributed to this report.