Maaza Mengiste was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. During the communist revolution, she had to leave the country with her family in 1975 to live in Nigeria, Kenya and finally the USA. She studied Creative Writing at New York University, where she now teaches. Her acclaimed debut novel, Beneath The Lion’s Gaze, has been translated into several languages. The Guardian newspaper named the novel one of the ten best contemporary African novels. Her new novel, The Shadow King, was published in 2015.