Contents
Maaza Mengiste
Reclaiming Ethiopian histories through Beneath the Lion’s Gaze and The Shadow King.
Beneath the Lion’s Gaze · The Shadow King
- Born
- 1971
- Birthplace
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
More people
Maaza Mengiste
Maaza Mengiste is an Ethiopian-American novelist whose work explores revolution, displacement and the people left out of official histories. The Shadow King reached the 2020 Booker shortlist.
Early life
Leaving Ethiopia
Her family fled when she was four; she grew up across Nigeria, Kenya and the United States.
Writing education
Studied at the University of Michigan and earned an MFA at New York University.
Career
- 2010
First novel
Published Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, set during the Ethiopian revolution.
- 2010s
Writing and teaching
Developed fiction and essays while teaching creative writing.
- 2020s
International readership
The Shadow King’s Booker shortlisting brought wider attention to her work.
Selected work
Beneath the Lion’s Gaze
Follows a family through revolutionary violence in Ethiopia.
The Shadow King
Centres women’s experiences during Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia.
Addis Ababa Noir
Edited an anthology of crime stories set in the Ethiopian capital.
Beyond work
Human-rights work
Has worked with organisations concerned with migrants and immigrant children.
Girls’ education
Contributed writing to the documentary project Girl Rising.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Institutional source ↗Photo: Rhododendrites. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
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