About the Book
Award-winning Ethiopian-American author Meron Hadero's gorgeously wrought stories in A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times offer poignant, compelling narratives of those whose lives have been marked by border crossings and the risk of displacement.
Set across the United States and abroad, Meron Hadero's stories feature immigrants, refugees, and those on the brink of dispossession, all struggling to begin again, all fighting to belong. Moving through diverse geographies and styles, this captivating collection follows characters on the journey toward home, which they dream of, create and redefine, lose and find, and make their own. Beyond migration, these stories examine themes of race, gender, class, friendship, betrayal, the despair of loss, and the enduring resilience of hope.
"The Street Sweep," winner of the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, is about an enterprising young man on the verge of losing his home in Addis Ababa who pursues an improbable opportunity to turn his life around.
Appearing in Best American Short Stories, "The Suitcase" follows a woman visiting her country of origin for the first time and finds that an ordinary object opens up an unexpected, complex bridge between worlds.
Shortlisted for the 2019 Caine Prize, "The Wall" portrays the intergenerational friendship between two refugees living in Iowa who have connections to Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
A Best American Short Stories notable, "Mekonnen aka Mack aka Huey Freakin' Newton" is a coming-of-age tale about an Ethiopian immigrant in Brooklyn encountering nuances of race in his new country.
Kaleidoscopic, powerful, and illuminative, the stories in A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times expand our understanding of the essential and universal need for connection and the vital refuge of home, from the major new talent Meron Hadero.
About the Author :
Meron Hadero is an Ethiopian American who was born in Addis Ababa and came to the US via Germany as a young child. Meron's short stories have won the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, have been shortlisted for the 2019 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, and appear in Best American Short Stories, Ploughshares, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Zyzzyva, The Iowa Review, Missouri Review, 40 Short Stories: A Portable Anthology, and others. She's also been published in The New York Times Book Review, the anthology The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives, and the anthology Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us. A 2019-2020 Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University, and a fellow at Yaddo, Ragdale, and MacDowell, Meron holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan, a JD from Yale Law School, and a BA in history from Princeton with a certificate in American studies.
Dele Ogundiran is a first-generation Nigerian-American actress, model, writer, and award-winning film producer. She can be seen in various television shows, national commercials, and international print ads. As a writer and producer, her films have appeared on screen in festivals across the globe. Benjamin Alfred Onyango is an experienced narrator, actor, and musician. Having received his bachelor's degree in computer science from the California State University, he conducts a winter and summer camp for children with high-functioning autism and teaches them how to write scripts, shoot, and edit. When not narrating, he enjoys performing regularly with his band In Lieu Of. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Waceke Wambaa is a voiceover artist with a passion for storytelling. She has experience with medical and corporate narration, commercials, documentaries, explainer videos, promos, audiobooks, and more. In her spare time, she can be found dabbling in her backyard, singing, acting, writing books, and volunteering as a reader at North Carolina Reading Service.
Review :
"Addresses Ethiopian Americans' struggles for acceptance, the painful ties between present and past, and the elusive meaning of home...Hadero sets a tone of dizzying displacement from the start...Entertaining and affecting stories with a deft lightness of touch."
-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"
"Hadero's characters face challenges including racism, crushing misunderstandings, and visits home that remind them of how much they no longer belong....Despite their difficult circumstances, though, these characters find comfort in places like a single friend and a home-cooked meal."
-- "Foreword Reviews (starred review)"
"Intricate and precise, A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times casts a glimmering light into the most elusive corners of estrangement which all migrants--torn between past and present, home and journey--come to know...These stories lull, then rip you open. A powerful, unforgettable collection."
-- "Ingrid Rojas Contreras, bestselling author of Fruit of the Drunken Tree"
"Meron Hadero's collection brims with lives on the margins, collisions that do not fully happen, redemptions thwarted at the last minute. Yet, it is through these moments that the vastness of the modern lives of immigrants are examined and fully revealed. This style...makes Hadero a new master of the form, and this collection a masterful one."
-- "Chigozie Obioma, author of An Orchestra of Minorities "
"Meron Hadero's dazzling short stories span the diaspora, poignantly portraying characters in search of opportunity and belonging. Rich with insight, compassion, and wit, A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times is an unforgettable debut."
-- "Vanessa Hua, bestselling author of A River of Stars"
"Showcases the lives of displaced people trying to create a space for themselves to call home in America and Ethiopia...often with nothing but hope and a sense of community pushing them forward."
-- "Booklist (starred review)"
"These stories capture lives caught between cultures and continents, past and present, truth and lies. As its displaced characters seek belonging, this collection explores the challenges of connection."
-- "Brit Bennett, New York Times bestselling author"
"This book heralds the arrival of a gifted, stunning writer. A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times held me spellbound...These stories unfold with an intensifying power, each of them a testament to what's possible when we move through this world insisting on the potential of hope, and love."
-- "Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King"
"With enormous power and wonderful subtlety, Meron Hadero grants us access to the inner worlds of people at moments when everything is at risk...As we enter a future that will be shaped more and more profoundly by border crossings, these sharp, humane, beautiful portraits are a gift."
-- "Dinaw Mengetsu, Achy Obejas, and Ilan Stavans, from the judges's citation for the Prize for New Immigrant Writing"
