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View all events for category: Literature & poetry

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Dream Count

Celebrate the launch of the author’s searing new novel, a story of four women and their loves, longings and desires, in conversation with Elizabeth Day.

More details for Royal Festival Hall
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Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets.

Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until – betrayed and brokenhearted – she must turn to the person she thought she needed least.

Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America – but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve.

In Dream Count, 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?

A reflection on the choices we make and those made for us, on daughters and mothers, on
our interconnected world, Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant, unflinching observations on the human heart.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie grew up in Nigeria. Her work has been translated into more than 55 languages. She is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah and the essay ‘We Should All Be Feminists’, among others.

Need to know

Age guidance
For ages 16+
Event information

Copies of Dream Count are available to purchase as an optional add-on for £15 (RRP £20) when you buy a ticket to the talk. The book must be collected on the night of the event, as we’re unable to distribute copies afterwards.

An exclusive box package is available, which includes:
Hire of a private box (seats up to eight people).
One free drink per guest on arrival (prosecco, wine, beer or soft drink).
Dedicated host to take drinks orders throughout the event.

Access

This event is British Sign Language interpreted (BSL) and Speech-to-Text transcribed (STT). BSL interpretation is by Ali Gordon and Jacqui Beckford (subject to change).

To book tickets for BSL interpretation, email [email protected] or call us on 020 3879 9555.

You can join our free Access Scheme through your online Southbank Centre account or via email.
Find out more about our Access Scheme
All our access information

For your visit

This event is held at the Royal Festival Hall Southbank Centre

The Royal Festival Hall is open six days a week.

Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 11pm
Monday, closed.

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A lively crowd cheers with raised hands, while a performer in a white hat and suit plays guitar, against red lighting. View larger image
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Pianis Víkingur Ólafsson is seated at a grand piano while playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations on the stage of Royal Festival Hall View larger image
Organist Carol Williams plays the Royal Festival Hall organ whiich is illumiated with bold colours View larger image

Plan your visit

The Royal Festival Hall is home to our largest auditorium as well as The Clore Ballroom, National Poetry Library, Members’ Lounge, Festival Bar & Kitchen, Ballroom Cafe and Skylon restaurant.

Getting here

Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.

The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues.  More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.

We’re cash-free

Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.

Access

We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.

All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access. 

All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.

Food & drink

On Level 2 of our Royal Festival Hall you can grab a slice of life by the Thames with drinks and freshly made pizza at our Festival Bar & Kitchen which opens out onto our Riverside Terrace. You can grab a coffee and a slice of freshly made cake from our Ballroom Cafe. Or alternatively enjoy destination dining in the restaurant at Skylon.

From coffee to cocktails, filling favourites to fine dining, plus some of London’s best street food – it’s all here at the Southbank Centre.

Other places to eat and drink whilst you’re here