Ethiopian American writer Meron Hadero has a new book on the way. The news comes in the heels of her winning the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing earlier this year. The book is titled A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times and is a collection of short stories. It is set for May 2022 release and will be published by Restless book. The book is the result of Hadero winning the Restless Books Prize for Immigrant Writing in so and so year, which was judged by Dinaw Mengestu, Achy Obejas, and Ilan Stavans.

Like her AKO Caine Prize winning story “The Street Sweep,” the collection captures the lives of immigrant, refugees, and other displaced peoples as they remake their lives far away from places they’d called home. She shows these characters asserting their claims to a full life in spite of the vulnerabilities that define their reality. Readers who love Hadero’s attentive storytelling centered on magnetic characters are in for a treat. They will have the chance to read stories such as “The Suitcase, which appeared in Best American Short Stories, “The Wall,” which was shortlisted for the 2019 AKO Caine Prize, “Mekonnen aka Mack aka Huey Freakin’ Newton” which was featured in A Best American Short Stories, and many more.

Read the publisher’s description of the book and follow the link below to

“Set across the U.S. and abroad, Meron Hadero’s stories feature characters who are immigrants, refugees, and those facing dislocation, all struggling to begin again, all fighting to belong. Moving through diverse geographies and styles, these captivating narratives follow 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 and betrayal, the despair of loss and the enduring resilience of hope.

Winner of the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, “The Street Sweep” 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—and announce a major new talent in Meron Hadero.”

BUY A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times: Bookshop.org | Restless Books