Maaza Mengiste was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and lived in Nigeria and Kenya before settling in the United States. Her debut novel, the critically acclaimed Beneath the Lion's Gaze, has been translated into several languages and appeared on several "Best of 2010" lists. The book was also selected by the Guardian as one of the 10 best contemporary African books. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, BBC Radio 4, Granta, and Lettre International, among other places. She is a Fulbright Scholar who has also received fellowships from the Emily Harvey Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Prague Summer Program, and Yaddo. Maaza was a Runner-up for the 2011 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, as well as a finalist for a Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, an NAACP Image Award, and an Indies Choice Book of the Year Award in Adult Debut. She lives in New York City.