The Storyteller of Sisterhood: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Jessika Gedin

When Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie publishes her first novel in 12 years, it is a real event. With award winning and critically acclaimed titles such as Americanah, Half of a Yellow Sun and We Should All Be Feminists, Adichie has attracted a large readership across the world.

Both in her novels and in her non-fiction, she explores what it means to be a woman and a feminist in the world today, and through her own books as well as the many aspiring writers she mentors and influences, she contributes to a greater diversity of stories and literary voices.

In her new novel, Dream Count, we follow four women who, each in their own way, come up against societal expectations and limits as to what women can do and ask for. Chiamaka spends the pandemic lockdown recounting all her failed relationships, Zikora tries to track down her ex, who left her when she became pregnant, Omelogor starts a blog addressed to men, and the maid Kadiatou tries to carve out a new life for herself and her daughter in the US.

Weaving together their histories, and in close portraits of the four women, Adichie explores female experiences such as society’s expecations for when you are to marry and have children, darker themes like abortion and female genital mutilation, but also female solidarity and sisterhood.

Since her literary debut in 2003, Chimamanda Adichie has become a literary and feminist icon, and she has introduced African literature to readers across the world.

She has been awarded the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, the Orange Prize and the US National Book Critics Circle Award, just to mention a few. Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages.

In Oslo, she was joined by journalist and editor Jessika Gedin for a conversation about women’s experiences, society’s expectations and the universal need to be loved.

The conversation took place in the University of Oslo’s Ceremonial Hall and was supported by NORAD.

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