Maaza Mengiste

Maaza Mengiste was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from NYU. She is a Fulbright Scholar, a Pushcart Prize nominee and her work has appeared most recently in the New York Times, Callaloo Journal, and The Granta Anthology of the African Short Story. Her debut novel, Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, has been translated into several languages and was on several ‘Best of 2010’ lists, including Publishers Weekly and Christian Science Monitor. A recipient of fellowships from Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Emily Harvey Foundation. In 2010 she published Beneath the Lion’s Gaze to much acclaim, her second novel The Shadow King is forthcoming.