As for most writers, language is vital for me: a writer's ability to render a fictional world - characters, landscape, emotions - into something original that alters or deepens my understanding of both literature and life. Dinaw Mengestu abilityaltercharacter share on social
Personally, it's a comfort and happiness to know that my work is taken seriously and is not marginalised and put in a box of ethnic immigrant writing in America. Dinaw Mengestu americaboxcomfort Change image and share on social
The MFA program did one great thing for me: It taught me how to be a better reader and critic. Nothing I wrote during my time at Columbia remains - but learning how to really deconstruct a work of fiction - that, of course, is a permanent part of me now. Dinaw Mengestu columbiacriticdeconstruct share on social
I tend to write longer narrative pieces after I've finished writing a novel - when the fiction's finished and put away, and I have a chance to take all the ideas that are buried inside of my novels and work with them directly. Dinaw Mengestu burychancedirectly share on social
Most of my favorite writers are over forty, and so I suppose I'll only name a few of the writers whose work I find myself constantly returning to: Edward P. Jones, Marilynne Robinson, Kazuo Ishiguro, V. S. Naipaul, Toni Morrison, and Philip Roth. Dinaw Mengestu constantlyedwardfavorite share on social
The Rwandan policy of putting the genocide behind them is incredibly effective in many ways. But it's also incredibly frightening to think that this nation is being asked put this mass slaughter behind them. Dinaw Mengestu askeffectivefrighten share on social
I'm an immigrant writer, or an African writer, or an Ethiopian-American writer, and occasionally an American writer according to the whims and needs of my interpreters. Dinaw Mengestu africanamericanethiopian Change image and share on social
Once I began college, I was committed to writing, which I think is different from saying I wanted to become a writer. I knew I would always write; I just wasn't always sure how I would go about doing so. Dinaw Mengestu begincollegecommit share on social
I wrote my first book without being to Ethiopia since I was two years old. Dinaw Mengestu bookethiopiawrite Change image and share on social
As an undergraduate, I took a theology course titled Religion as Writing. If writing can be considered a form of faith, then inevitably doubt has to accompany it. Dinaw Mengestu accompanyconsiderdoubt Change image and share on social
