Ethiopia-born Novelist Dinew Mengistu won Genius Award, receives $500,000 USD

On Monday, news of who would be named the 2012 MacArthur Fellows leaked out early in reports by the Associated Press and elsewhere. Dinaw Mengestu is one of the winners.

Ethiopian born Mengestu's most recent work is the 2010 novel "How to Read the Air."

 

Each author will receive a no-strings-attached "genius grant" of $500,000. All MacArthur Fellows are awarded $100,000 a year for five years.

 

Mengestu's work has been recognized for its excellence; his debut, "The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears," won the L.A. Times Book Prize for first fiction in 2007, and he was named one of the New Yorker's 20 under 40 in 2010.

 

Dinaw Mengestu (born 1978) is an award-winning American novelist and writer. In addition to two novels, he has written for Rolling Stone on the war in Darfur, and for Jane Magazine on the conflict in northern Uganda.[1] His writing has also appeared in Harper's, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other publications.

 

He was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His family left Ethiopia when he was two years old; he was raised in Peoria, Illinois and, later, the suburbs of Chicago. He received his B.A. in English from Georgetown University, and his MFA in fiction [2] from Columbia University. [edit]Works

 

His début novel, The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears, was published in the USA in March 2007 by Penguin Riverhead. It tells the story of Sepha Stephanos, who seventeen years ago fled the Ethiopian Revolution for a new start in the United States. Now he runs a failing grocery store in a poor African-American section of Washington, D.C., his only companions two fellow African immigrants who share his bitter nostalgia and longing for his home continent. Years ago and worlds away, Sepha could never have imagined a life of such isolation. As his environment begins to change, hope comes in the form of a friendship with new neighbors Judith and Naomi, a white woman and her biracial daughter. But when a series of racial incidents disturb the community, Sepha may lose everything all over again.

 The novel was published in the UK as Children of the Revolution in May 2007 by Jonathan Cape. It has been translated into more than a dozen languages.

 Mengestu's second novel, How to Read the Air, was released in October 2010.[3] Part of the novel was excerpted in the July 12, 2010 issue of The New Yorker, after Mengestu was selected as one of their "20 under 40" writers of 2010.[4]

 [edit]Awards and honors

The New Yorker "20 Under 40", 2010[5]
Los Angeles Times Book Prize, 2008
New York Public Library Young Lions Award Finalist 2008
Dylan Thomas Prize, Finalist 2008
Prix du Premier Meilleur Roman Etranger, 2007
Grand Prix de Lectrices de Elle, Finalist 2007
Prix Femina Etranger, Finalist, 2007
Guardian First Book Award, 2007
National Book Award Foundation, 5 Under 35 Award, 2007
Lannan Fiction Fellowship, 2007
New York Times Notable Book 2007