Selected contemporary English-language fiction on Ethiopian subjects: 

An annotated bibliography

Compiled by Caren Irr

Caputo, Philip.  Acts of Faith.  Concerned mainly with western aid workers during the war in Sudan, this novel touches on conditions and issues in several East African nations—somewhat like Caputo's earlier Horn of Africa.

Cohen, Robert. Amateur Barbarians.  This novel by a Middlebury College professor (who himself makes an appearance in Melissa Fay Greene's book There Is No Me Without You) describes the midlife anxieties of a father who eventually finds himself in Addis Ababa. 

Eggers, Dave. What is the What.  This non-fiction novel, developed from conversations with a Sudanese refugee, includes some moving passages in Ethiopia, as the hero moves ultimately to asylum in the US.

Gibb, Camilla. Sweetness in the Belly.  The third novel by this Oxford-educated Canadian explores the sustaining power of faith for a white Muslim in London and Harar.

Keneally, Thomas. To Asmara.  A moving novel by the author of Schindler's List; it's set during the famine of the 1980s and explores the border conflict with Eritrea in detail.

Laird, Elizabeth. The Garbage King.  This young adult novel set in Addis Ababa compares the paths that led two boys to become members of a gang of street children.

Levitin, Sonia.  The Return.  This young adult novel describes the experiences of a teenage Ethiopian Jew during the airlift to Israel.

Marsden, Philip. The Barefoot Emperor.  A recent historical novel set during the tragic and heroic conflict between Ethiopians and the British during the reign of Tewodros II (1858-1868).  This is the English author's third book set in Ethiopia; his other works of travel writing and fiction have also been well reviewed.

Mengestu, Dinaw. The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears, How to Read the Air.  Before being chosen one of the New Yorker's twenty writers under the age of forty to watch, Mengestu published his first gently melancholic novel, The Beautiful Things (title in England:  Children of the Revolution, after the T. Rex song); this elegy ponders the losses experienced by three African-born friends in Washington DC.  His second novel explores the drama of migration from the contrasting points of view of parents and children making largely the same journey to the Midwest in different decades.

Mengiste, Maaza.  Beneath the Lion's Gaze.  A debut novel by a promising young writer, this treatment of the Derg's overthrow of Haile Selassie is strong on drama and provides a useful starting point for understanding Ethiopian politics.

Mezlakia, Nega. The God Who Begat a Jackal.  This romantic magical realist novel is set in eighteenth-century Abyssinia.  While interesting in its own right, the novel also casts some light on the Canadian author's controversial memoir Notes from the Hyena's Belly.

Mohamed, Nadifa. Black Mamba Boy.  Based on the life story of the author's father, this novel follows its orphaned Somali hero from Yemen, through Ethiopia, to various locations in post-Holocaust Europe.

Morgan, Anna.  Daughters of the Ark.  This young adult novel intertwines the stories of a contemporary girl and another in the time of the Queen of Sheba.

Ruff, Anne Marie.  Through These Veins.  A thriller set in Ethiopia and concerned with pharmaceuticals research and traditional knowledge in the rush for a new AIDS drug.

Ruffin, Jean-Christoph. The Abyssinian (translated from French).  Set in the eighteenth century, this winner of the Prix Goncourt imagines the adventures of an ambitious Frenchman who hopes to advance his career by establishing a French embassy in Ethiopia.

Verghese, Abraham.  Cutting for Stone.  This widely discussed novel by an Ethiopian-born physician describes medical and social issues in Ethiopia from the perspective of Indian expatriates—mainly during the 1960s and 70s.

Waugh, Evelyn.  Scoop.  This dissection of the newspaper trade by the acclaimed English satirist is partially set in a fictional African country bearing some resemblance to Ethiopia.

Zephaniah, Benjamin. Refugee Boy.  An emotionally charged young adult novel that describes the experiences of an Ethiopian/Eritrean boy whose family sent him to see asylum in England.

See also:

Isegawa, Moses. Abyssinian Chronicles. Despite the title, this complex epic describes political and social life of twentieth-century Uganda, rather than Ethiopia. Translated by the author from Dutch.

Eadie, J. I. An Amharic Reader. First published in 1924, this eclectic mix of poems, stories, recipes and the like provides literal translations from Amharic to English on facing pages. A great language learning resource.

Lemma, Mengistu. Memoirist describing culture shock and conflict during his mid-20^th-century education in Europe.

Alemayehu, Haddis. Another recommended author of memoirs.

Abraham, Amanuel. Another recommended author of memoirs.

Oda, Haleku. Another recommended author of memoirs.