Maaza Mengiste
(Ethiopia, 1971) debuted in 2010 with the heartbreaking Beneath the Lion’s Gaze. This novel was hailed by The Guardian as one of the ten best recent African books. The story is set in the 1970s and begins with the last days of Emperor Haile Selassie. Mengiste continues with the cruel regime of the socialist Derg, who is etimated to have caused 100,000 deaths: "I wanted to show the humanity and the destruction of the people who suffered under this regime." Central themes of Mengiste's fiction and non-fiction are migration, the Ethiopian revolution, and the life of black African immigrants in Europe. She currently works for various orgranisations that support displaced people and human rights. Several Amerian celebrities like Meryl Streep and Alicia Keys worked on her film project Girl Rising, about the situation of girls around the world. Mengiste lives and works in New York City.
Past events
Home Is Where the Hell Is
Three writers on growing up in violent environments. Israeli David Grossman, Maaza Mengiste who wrote about the Ethiopian revolution, and Jennifer Clement, who described the impact of the drug trade on the lives of young girls.
Writers Formerly Known as African
Maaza Mengiste was born in Ethiopia and moved to the US as a child. Nii Ayikwei Parkes was born in London to Ghanaian parents. How defining is their parents' country in their work and identity? Toef Jaeger opens with a commentary. She is the biographer of the writer Henk van Woerden, who grew up in South Africa and emigrated to the Netherlands.
Old Ideals
Adriaan Van Dis, Maaza Mengiste and Abeer Soliman wrote books about ideals. About old anti-apartheid activists and about old revolutionaries from Egypt and Ethiopia. Joris Luyendijk talks to them on the loss, rebirth and clash of old and new ideals. In English.
