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Literature

Reviews

Jan 18 2010

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Beneath the Lion’s Gaze

In her searing first novel, Maaza Mengiste recounts the experiences of the 1974 Ethiopian revolution with memories crisp and scabs still unhealed and festering.

W. W. Norton & Company1/11/2010

Sep 08 2008

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The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears

Beautiful Things, for lack of a better expression, will speak "beautiful things" to beautiful people, and in that signify a marked entrance into a world of skillful story telling.

US: Riverhead Books/UK: Jonathan Cape Ltd

Poems

Mar 04 2009

kristos/love/consciousness

"are you sure, sweetheart, that you want to be well?
just so's you're sure, sweetheart, and ready to be healed,
cause wholeness is no trifling matter.
a lot of weight when you're well..."

Feb 22 2009

When Still Waters Run

i've been told
... to stand still as the water
i say i've been told to stand
... still as the water

Jan 27 2009

niHna

gapped teeth yellowed by the river's residue
calloused hands imprinted with memories on how to still be tender

Jan 27 2009

re-recognizing

as often/my thirst for some conclusion had me drawing out some time and space from the generous well of the universe. my eyebrows bridged closer as if to curtain off from view anything that would entice

Nov 17 2008

concealed things

colour in the mechanism
of concealment,
lineage a dangerous dream

Sep 08 2008

Selections

Her contract with the mother of winds has been signed in breath.

She could breathe all me into her
And all of me into light…

Features

Mar 10 2010

Q&A with Maaza Mengiste, Author of ‘Beneath the Lion's Gaze’

"I wanted to put into context my own memories of particular moments in Ethiopia during the early days of the revolution. I saw a type of fear that was raw and immediate, and I think even at that young age, I’d begun to understand the human capacity for cruelty."

Sep 08 2008

Dinaw Mengestu

What does gentrification have in common with violence in Africa? Dinaw Mengestu shares his experience writing the bestselling novel "The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears," giving insight to his writing career and life in Washington DC.

Dec 02 2007

Coded Inspiration: A Conversation with Mawi Asgedom

Though I have experienced many things as an individual, the elements that shaped me the most were those that I had at an early age with and within my family. Also it was a story that needed to be told.

Mar 04 2007

Yemane Barya: The Eritrean Griot

How do you write about passion, love, revolution, flawless poignancy, inexhaustible hope and painful yearning for freedom? How do you capture the heartbeats of millions and channel it through your soul and into the world?

Mar 04 2007

The Healing Conscious: Interview with Kifle Bantayehu

The true essence of poetry I feel is quite simple. Poetry is an expression of one’s emotions and environment in written form. Write from the heart, experiment, and most importantly, enjoy doing so.

Jan 31 2007

Words for A King: Baraka, Last Poets gather to remember Martin

If you were throwing a birthday party for civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whom would you invite? For the Anacostia Community Museum’s annual King program, “From Civil Rights to Black Power,” young poets from

Mar 02 2006

Braindrops :: An Interview with Robel Kassa

HA: Who are you? Describe yourself RK: That could be the whole interview. I am Robel Kassa. I am 25 years old. I was born in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia.

Jan 31 2005

Jun 04 2002

The Non-Poet Poet: Sennai Mussie

What is the next generation going to trace back to if what they have in the cultural archive is the gesturing of popping collars and flashing chains? How these diamond chains that influenced the change in rappers hand gestures were imported from the mother land at the expense of poor African children and poor men? There is a grand irony there when you look at it closely.


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