According to this report from io9, which is reporting from New York Comic Con, GRRM’s editor Anne Groell has revealed that George has informed his publisher that he has five chapters left to write to complete A Dance with Dragons, and that those five chapters already exist in partial form. According to Anne:
This is an advance on the last update on the subject, where 8 POVs were completed.
However ... we can’t help but wonder if something has not been lost in translation? It’s thought that the total number of POVs for the book are 12 or 13, from information we’ve received over the years. Is it possible that George has 5 POVs, not 5 chapters, to complete? He left for Aussiecon 2 weeks after that update, and has hardly touched the ground since, so it’s unclear to us if he’s managed to sneak in a few more completed chapters since his return from his vacation.
Of course, it’s possible that he was able to reach the final chapters on a number of POVs, thereby explaining the situation. We’ll try and get a confirmation next week.
UPDATE: DelReySpectra confirmed that GRRM has told Anne that he had just five chapters left to write. Very cool.