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From renowned Japanese children's author Sachiko Kashiwaba, Temple Alley Summer is a fantastical and mysterious adventure filled with the living dead, a magical pearl, and a suspiciously nosy black cat named Kiriko featuring beautiful illustrations from Miho Satake.Kazu knows something odd is going on when he sees a girl in a white kimono sneak out of his house in the middle of the night-was he dreaming? Did he see a ghost? Things get even stranger when he shows up to school the next day to see the very same figure sitting in his classroom. No one else thinks it's weird, and, even though Kazu doesn't remember ever seeing her before, they all seem convinced that the ghost-girl Akari has been their friend for years! When Kazu's summer project to learn about Kimyo Temple draws the meddling attention of his mysterious neighbor Ms. Minakami and his secretive new classmate Akari, Kazu soon learns that not everything is as it seems in his hometown. Kazu discovers that Kimyo Temple is linked to a long forgotten legend about bringing the dead to life, which could explain Akari's sudden appearance-is she a zombie or a ghost? Kazu and Akari join forces to find and protect the source of the temple's power. An unfinished story in a magazine from Akari's youth might just hold the key to keeping Akari in the world of the living, and it's up to them to find the story's ending and solve the mystery as the adults around them conspire to stop them from finding the truth.

With a stunning sense of place, Camille U. Adams' unrelenting memoir lays bare the innards of a mother daughter relationship, laying bare hard truths about family, abuse, and identity that challenge the Caribbean literary zeitgeist.From acclaimed Trinididian writer and scholar Camille U. Adams comes a heartbreaking memoir of motherhood, daughterhood, and the unjust burden of parental cruelty. Breathtaking in its originality, How to be Unmothered showcases Adams' early childhood in Trinidad, contending with an angry father often possessed by Rum and a mother whose only reprieve is control. With a sweltering sense of place, we follow Camille's journey from Trinidad and Grenada to England, Canada, and New York as she desperately uncovers her family's lineage of unmothering, trying to understand her own life in the context of her lineage and the history of the Caribbean as a whole. Investigating African spirituality and pre-colonial Trinidad, this far-sweeping memoir uses one daughter's experience of maternal abuse to pull the veil from Caribbean canon, revealing the pain, hardship, and truth that lies beneath.Finalist for the 2023 Restless Prize for New Immigrant Writing, How to Be Unmothered will shatter readers' expectations of what a memoir can be. Written in part in the rhythmic patois of Trinidad and Tobago and providing an unfiltered and emotionally raw portrait of an abusive mother-daughter relationship, Camille U. Adams' story will deeply touch all readers and transform the way we think about multi-generational trauma.

With nostalgic charm and gentle magic so characteristic of award-winning Sachiko Kashiwaba, The Village Beyond the Mist, which inspired Spirited Away, will captivate and enchant readers of all ages.This timeless and enduring Japanese classic from 1975 served as the inspiration for the beloved Studio Ghibli film, Spirited Away, and ?it's available? for the first time to English-speaking readers. The story follows Lina, a sixth-grade girl who embarks on a solo train journey to spend the summer in a rural village. However, upon arrival, she discovers that the valley's might not exist!Through a mysterious encounter involving wind, mist, and a magic umbrella, she arrives at a grand house on a cobbled street. As Lina adapts to her new responsibilities around town, she learns more about friendship and herself than she previously thought possible.

Who will rebuild God's most holy temple, and at what cost?In a near-future Jerusalem, harrowing omens plague the city: a desecrated altar, an unbearable stench, a rampant famine. Shaken but devout, Jonathan, the royal family's third and youngest son, continues to hold services and offer animal sacrifices at the prophesied Third Temple, built to celebrate the founding of the new Kingdom of Judah. His father, Israel's self-appointed ruler, will surely restore peace and order. But when an angel of God appears and torments Jonathan with warnings of the king's sacrilege, the foundations of the young priest's faith-and then his world-begin to give way.Winner of the prestigious Bernstein Prize, The Third Temple plunges readers into a tempest of fanaticism, betrayal, and destruction. Where does the power of man end, and the power of God begin? With chilling resonance, this vivid novel from one of Israel's leading authors sounds an unforgettable warning amidst rising extremism.

From award-winning author, editor, and translator Ilan Stavans, comes a one-of-kind translation of the timeless, poignant poetry of the legendary Aztec ruler, Nezahualcoyotl.A king, a warrior, and a poet, Nezahualcoyotl was a revolutionary leader far ahead of his time. Born in 1402, Nezahualcoyotl-meaning 'hungry coyote' in the Uto-Aztecan language of Nahuatl-led the city-state of Texcoco through its "age of enlightenment." He is remembered for having challenged long held beliefs, encouraged the development of modern ideas of education and morality, and cultivated critical alliances. His four decade reign is regarded as one of the most transformative and prosperous periods of the Aztec empire. Today, he is a legend in Mexico, seen as a mysterious, powerful, anticolonial figure.This epic collection of songs and poems, full of grief and anguish, was originally written collectively by Nezahualcoyotl and members of his court in Nahuatl. Stunningly retold by renowned writer, editor, and critic Ilan Stavans, these seventeen powerful poems are now made available to English readers for the very first time. Lamentations of Nezahualcoyotl: Nahuatl Poems crafts a remarkable portrait of the life of the man who went from a young warrior in exile to one of the most important figures in Aztec history. Sorrowful and unforgettable, it is destined to become a classic.

The riveting English-language debut from celebrated Israeli author Einat Yakir, Sand tells the story of a family fleeing from a comfortless past into a promising present, but failing to strike roots in a ground that's mostly made of sand.In clear and uncompromising prose, Sand dives in and out of the alternating viewpoints of a family who just arrived in Tel Aviv: a mother who rebuilds a business of coffee ground fortune telling, a son who backslides into petty crime, a daughter who pivots between the carelessness of childhood and the allures of being seen as a woman, and a man who takes on the role of a father for strangers in the street but never for his own children. Sharing only the space of that new, sand-dusted apartment on a bustling street, the family members lead lives that, while parallel, never fully intersect. Their communication is one of closed doors, of hung-up phone calls, and of a mother's crumbling hope to escape the undercurrent of violence that made life in Ashdod impossible.Brusque and honest, Sand eddies around the greatest mystery of human interaction: the unknowability of another person's mind. Its narration hovers on the edge of action, stares at the sleight of hand while the magic happens somewhere else. Pulling the reader into a maelstrom of a family's inexplicable bad luck, it reflects life more honestly than most books: not knowing the reason for other people's actions, they often seem cruel.

Seven award-winning plays by rising stars of contemporary theater herald a profound shift in what it means to be an American, an immigrant, and an artist on today's stage. Shayok Misha Chowdhury | Public Obscenities, shortlisted for the 2024 Pulitzer PrizeHansol Jung, 2018 Whiting Award-winner | Wolf PlayMartyna Majok, 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winner | Sanctuary CityMona Mansour, 2020 Kesselring Prize-winner | The Hour of FeelingCharlie Oh | Coleman '72, 2021 Paul Stephen Lim Award-winnerMfoniso Udofia, 2021 Horton Foote Award-winner | SojournersJesús I. Valles, 2023 Yale Drama Series Prize-winner | a river, its mouthsThis groundbreaking collection of works by first- and second-generation immigrants unites seven exhilarating new voices of Lebanese, Nigerian, Korean, Bengali, Polish, and Mexican descent. Echoing beyond the stage, their stories draw on common experiences of displacement, alienation, and the sense of living in suspension; sometimes torn between two worlds, sometimes plummeting into the spaces between them. Amid tangled relationships, vengeful landscapes, and buried family mysteries, something universal flickers; the search for safety and the promise of home. Both haunting and galvanizing, What This Place Makes Me will be a vital touchstone for years to come.

"Anna Thalberg is shunned by her village for her red hair and provocative beauty, so the neighbors do not intervene when she is accused of witchcraft and imprisoned. Only her husband Klaus and Father Friedrich, a priest experiencing a crisis of faith, are determined to prove her innocence. Can they convince the Church inquisitors to release Anna before she is burned at the stake?"--

"Everyone deserves a quiet, restful retirement. But for John, a newly retired classroom skeleton, life is just beginning. When John is adopted by Grams and Gramps and leaves the classroom to live on their farm, every day is an exciting new adventure: John rides in the car for the first time, makes a snow angel, scares away crooks, and becomes a source of comfort for Grams, Gramps, and their grandkids. With delightful illustrations and a charming cast of characters, John the Skeleton is a quirky, touching, and unforgettable book. Triinu Laan thoughtfully weaves aging and death into the fabric of life, crafting a tender portrait of what it means to care for one another, grow old together, and appreciate the little things"--

Book reads right to left in Hebrew and Arabic manner.

British war photographer Joseph Nightingale, known to his colleagues as Fearless, is haunted by a brutal past and a present that has grown unrecognizable. Besieged by grief over the loss of his partner and unborn child, he travels to Cambodia, where a reunion with an old friend leads him to a young woman named Song. Imprisoned by circumstance, she, too, is longing for a past she can t reconcile and grappling with the disappearance of her twin sister. Soon after their paths cross, Song vanishes, leaving behind only a mysterious videotape, and Fearless finds himself entangled in a web of transnational sex traffickers, corrupt power brokers, and ruthless arms dealers, where nothing and no one are what they seem.

"For Melia and her sister Myrto, the summer of 1936 means a break from Grandfather's history lessons and weeks of running free at the Greek seaside with their ragtag group of friends. Best of all, cousin Nikos will visit and tell his fabulous stories about the taxidermied wildcat, which opens its blue glass eye when it wants to do good deeds and its black one when it makes trouble. The black eye must be open lately because all the adults have been acting strangely, arguing about politics and fearful of the police. Soon even the children are divided--who can Melia trust? And can the wildcat help keep her family safe?"--

"Pim is a delicate youth -- stringy, solemn, and prone to bouts of unexplained weeping. When he enrolls in trade school as an apprentice butcher, his mentors have low expectations, but his lanky body conceals a peculiar flame: a passionate devotion to animals. In an industry that strives to distance the chopping block from the dinner plate, his ardor might seem like a handicap, but Pim rises through the knife-wielding ranks with a barely-tethered zeal. He scours blood from floor mats and stacks carcasses in the cold room by day. By night he tries to slake his appetites: at the table, over boudin sausage and steak tartare, and in bed, with women whose flanks, ribs, and haunches he maps as they undress each other. Pim's professional successes mount but his cravings gnaw. In the library he teases out histories, like the blood-drinking forerunners to vampirism or the Medieval trial of a killer pig, sentenced to death by hanging. Meat crowds his waking thoughts. Even as he carves ripe flesh from exquisite bone, he labors to close the gap between man and beast -- to be seen, understood, even loved, by a primordial mind. Will this ravenous obsession yield to madness, or to ecstasy? With shades of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Joy Sorman's Tenderloin is an ethical foray, fever dream, and paean to an ageless hunger. Vegetarians and carnivores alike are invited to feast at this sumptuous literary table. After all, we are what we eat."--

A rediscovered classic, and the only known novel by Black abolitionist and political exile Louis Timagène Houat, The Maroons is a fervid account of slavery and escape on nineteenth-century Réunion Island.Frême is a young African man forced into slavery on Réunion, an island east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Plagued by memories of his childhood sweetheart, a white woman named Marie, Frême seeks her out-but when they are persecuted for their love, the two flee into the forest. There they meet other "maroons": formerly enslaved people and courageous rebels who have chosen freedom at the risk of their lives.Now available in English for the first time, The Maroons highlights slavery's abject conditions under the French empire, and attests to the widespread phenomenon of enslaved people escaping captivity to forge a new life beyond the reach of so-called "civilization." Banned by colonial authorities at the time of its publication in 1844, the book fell into obscurity for over a century before its rediscovery in the 1970s. Since its first reissue, the novel has been recognized for its extraordinary historical significance and literary quality.Presented here in a sensitive translation by Aqiil Gopee with Jeffrey Diteman, and with a keen introduction by journalist and author Shenaz Patel, The Maroons is a vital resource for rethinking the nineteenth-century canon, and a fascinating read on the struggle for freedom and social justice.

"Ani Gjika was born in Albania and came of age just after the fall of Communism, a time when everyone had a secret to keep and young women were afraid to walk down the street alone. When her family immigrates to America, Gjika finds herself far from the grandmother who helped raise her, grappling with a new language, and isolated from aging parents who are trying in their own ways to survive. When she meets a young man whose mind leans toward writing, as hers does, Ani falls in love--at least, she thinks it's love. Set across Albania, Thailand, India, and the U.S., An Unruled Body is a young woman's journey to selfhood through the lenses of language, sexuality, and identity, and how she learns to find freedom of expression on her own terms."--

"The moving story of three generations of women adapting to their new home, and it's mythical inhabitants, in the tragic aftermath of the 2011 Tåohoku earthquake disaster"--

"This volume is a people's history of English in the United States, told by those who have transformed it: activists, teachers, immigrants, journalists, poets, dictionary makers, actors, musicians, playwrights, preachers, presidents, rappers, translators, singers, children's authors, scientists, politicians, foreigners, students, homemakers, lexicographers, scholars, newspaper columnists, senators, novelists, and a slew of fanatics. It begins with the English used by the settlers in Plymouth Colony and concludes (for now) with John McWhorter's tribute to punctuation that bends the rules. The quest is to understand how an imperial language like English, with Germanic origins, whose spread resulted from the Norman conquest, came to be an intrinsic component of the most influential democratic experiment in the world. Edited by internationally renowned cultural commentator and consultant for the OED Ilan Stavans, it is organized chronologically and offers a banquet of letters, poems, essays, dictionary entries, stories, songs, legislative documents, and other evidence of verbal mutation. Immigrants have propelled these transformations. Hybrid dialects like Yinglish, Spanglish, and Hawaiian pidgin have flowered. Our linguistic and cultural multiplicity has sparked fierce national debates that play out in these pages--from the compulsory education (and deracination) of Native Americans, to the classification of Black Vernacular English (once celebrated and ridiculed as Ebonics), to the dictionary wars over prescriptive versus descriptive usage, to the push for "English only" mandates that persist to this day. What is clear is that as much as we try to corral it, American English gallops ahead to its own destiny. Driven by American innovators, English has become the global language of both business and entertainment--the medium of the laws that bind us, the art that inspires us, and the connections we forge across cultures. A compendium that is as rich and diverse as the country itself, The People's Tongue helps us grapple with how English has become the world's lingua franca."--

Andrea Chapela, one of Granta's Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists of 2021, breaks down literary and scientific conventions in this prize-winning collection of experimental essays exploring the properties and poetics of glass, mirrors, and light as a means of understanding the self. In powerful, formally inventive essays, The Visible Unseen disrupts the purported cultural divide between arts and science. As both a chemist and an award-winning author, Chapela zeros in on the literary metaphors buried in the facts and figures of her scientific observations. Through questioning scientific conundrums that lie beyond the limits of human perception, she winds up putting herself under the microscope as well. While considering the technical definition of glass as a liquid or a solid, Chapela stumbles upon a framework for understanding the in-between-ness of her own life. Turning her focus toward mirrors, she finds metaphors for our cultural obsessions with self-image in the physics and chemistry of reflection. And as she compiles a history of the scientific study of light, she comes to her final conclusion: that the purpose of description-be it scientific or literary-can never be to define reality, only to confirm our perception of it. Lyrical, introspective, and methodical, The Visible Unseen constructs a startling new perspective from which to examine ourselves and the ways we create meaning.

In a besieged city, Noor watches as his neighbors pack their bags and flee their homesbut a dog named Bobby is left behind. As Noor sets out across the ravaged city to save him, he discovers pockets of life and hope in this moving story of friendship in the face of adversity.Then Noor goes off againto find his dearest friend.Bobby, Bobby, where are you?Bobby, Bobby, can I come, too?When Noors canine friend Bobby disappears from their apartment building one afternoon, Noor sets off on a perilous journey to find him. Noor stumbles through abandoned buildings and navigates streets cluttered with downed planes, barbed wire, and items left behind by fleeing residents. While searching for Bobby, Noor comes across other animals in the rubble of the city in need of his help. He frees a bird tangled in barbed wire, builds a shelter for a cat and her kittens, and is finally reunited with his beloved Bobby. Beautiful paper-cut collage illustrations highlight the realities of war as the brightness of Noor and his animal friends sharply contrasts with the desolate cityscape.With its tender illustrations and animal-loving protagonist, Noor and Bobby is a compassionate and empathetic introduction to displacement and the realities of war and a heartwarming story of friendship from prolific French-Lebanese author Praline Gay-Para.

Award-winning South Korean author Choi Jeong-Hwäs English-language debut, The White City Tale is a powerful exploration of existence, social hierarchies, and resilience as one man fights against a system of inequalities in a quarantined city as a pandemic of bodily and mental erasure rages.

In a small Italian town on the brink of World War II, ten-year-old Micù has a difficult life-diagnosed with polio, alienated by his peers, and potentially cursed by the local witch, the boy finds an unlikely ally in a mischievous demon named Farfariel, and the two embark on a search for a rare and magical book which might hold the key to turning Micù's life around.All that Micù wants from life is to go to school, which his father discourages. Instead, he passes the time with his favorite uncle Tatà, who just returned from years spent living in America with stories galore. But nothing seems to turn out well for Micù. If it weren't enough that he struggles with polio, the young boy is also afflicted by awful nightmares, endures relentless bullying from his peers, draws constant suspicion from the local villagers, and might even be under a curse!One day, Micù has a terrifying dream about a mysterious book that promises to solve his problems. Soon after that he meets Farfariel, a mischievous demon invisible to everyone else, and his life is turned upside down. Together with Farfariel, Micù searches for the book, confronting his greatest fears and finding a confidence in himself that he never knew he had.

2020 Foreword INDIES Gold Winner for Multicultural Fiction2020 Mass Book Awards Must Read FictionAn inspired and urgent prose retelling of the Maya myth of creation by acclaimed Latin American author and scholar Ilan Stavans, gorgeously illustrated by Salvadoran folk artist Gabriela Larios and introduced by renowned author, diplomat, and environmental activist Homero Aridjis.

In a new collection that brings together the work of eleven notable translators, with an introduction by the bestselling Iranian-American author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi, and original illustrations by Syrian artist Rama Duwaji, the Restless Classics edition of 1,001 Nights showcases the breadth and imagination of these legendary tales from the Arab world. Beginning as an oral storytelling tradition long before the first authoritative manuscript was composed in the 14th century in Syria, which was rendered into French in the 1700s, spawning an exoticized portrait of the ¿Orient¿ that still informs Western stereotypes, the tales of the 1,001 Nights have captivated readers for centuries. We begin with violence, and the power of storytelling: When his wife is unfaithful, King Shahryar takes revenge on all womankind by marrying a virgin and murdering her at the end of every night¿until one named Scheherazade asks to tell a story to her sister. When dawn comes and the story is still unfinished, Shahryar allows her to live and continue the tale the next night¿and Scheherezade does so for one thousand and one nights until the King gives up on killing. In her insightful introduction to the Restless Classics edition of 1,001 Nights, Iranian author Azar Nafisi describes Scheherezade as the true heroine of the tales for those in oppressive regimes who find power and courage in her example: ¿Shahrzad's own story contains a hidden theme, old and timeless¿the theme of what can happen when reality closes all doors; when life seems uncontrollable and unchangeable; when life means death; when one's own life appears to be an insoluble puzzle and only one's own imagination can lead one out of a predicament.¿ There is another vital protagonist in the history of this book: the translator. Told and retold and recreated in the process, these tales are a case study of translators as co-creators. Over the centuries, each translator, deliberately and otherwise, has added to the narrative current, shaping this endless river of stories that is never the same twice. The Restless Classics edition is the first to showcase a wide variety of English translations, presenting a new frame to experience the 1,001 Nights.

In this rich, eye-opening, and uplifting anthology, dozens of esteemed writers, poets, artists, and translators from more than thirty countries send literary dispatches from life during the pandemic. A portion of proceeds benefit booksellers in need.World Literature Today's 75 Notable Translations of 2020

NPR Best Books of 2022The Christian Science Monitor 10 Best Books of JuneMost Anticipated Books of 2022: The Millions, Electric Literature, Brittle Paper, Open Country Magazine, Ms. MagazineWinner of the 2020 Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing and the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, Ethiopian American author Meron Hadero¿s gorgeously wrought stories in A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times offer poignant, compelling narratives of those whose lives have been marked by border crossings and the risk of displacement.Set across the U.S. and abroad, Meron Hadero¿s stories feature immigrants, refugees, and those on the brink of dispossession, all struggling to begin again, all fighting to belong. Moving through diverse geographies and styles, this captivating collection follows 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."Exquisite ¿.Sentences infused with attitude throw gut punches that land with enough power to bring on tears."¿Daphne Kalotay, The Washington Post¿Witty and wistful, complex and heartbreaking, these stories capture lives caught between cultures and continents, past and present, truth and lies. As its displaced characters seek belonging, this collection explores the challenges of connection with empathy and nuance. A thrilling debut.¿¿Brit Bennett, bestselling author of The Vanishing Half and The Mothers¿Debut books don¿t get much stronger than this. Meron Hadero¿s remarkable stories explore a diverse cast of people doing their best to find acceptance or at least stability¿Hadero is deeply perceptive; her dialogue always rings true, and the regard she has for her characters is apparent. This isn¿t just an excellent first book, it¿s an excellent book, period.¿¿Michael Schaub, NPR Best Books 2022: Books We Love¿This book heralds the arrival of a gifted, stunning writer. A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times held me spellbound¿These stories unfold with an intensifying power, each of them a testament to what¿s possible when we move through this world insisting on the potential of hope, and love.¿¿Maaza Mengiste, author of Booker Prize finalist The Shadow King¿This richly detailed, subtly impressionistic short-story collection¿by the first Ethiopian-born writer to win the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing¿pulls at threads of geography, language, generation, race, and gender¿Hadero¿s page shines¿expanding instead of narrowing the range and representation of immigrant experiences.¿¿Daniel King, Mother Jones"Meron Hadero's collection, A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times brims with lives on the margins¿This style, which time and time again comes off the page as truly effortless, is what makes Hadero a new master of the form, and this collection a masterful one." ¿Chigozie Obioma, author of Booker Prize finalists An Orchestra of Minorities and The Fishermen¿Intricate and precise, A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times casts a glimmering light into the most elusive corners of estrangement which all migrants¿torn between past and present, home and journey¿come to know¿A powerful, unforgettable collection.¿¿Ingrid Rojas Contreras, bestselling author of Fruit of the Drunken Tree¿In her debut story collection, Addis Ababäborn Hadero addresses Ethiopian Americans' struggles for acceptance, the painful ties between present and past, and the elusive meaning of home¿. A full range of stylistic approaches is on display in these stories¿. Entertaining and affecting stories with a deft lightness of touch.¿ ¿Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review¿In this impressive debut collection, award-winning Ethiopian American writer Hadero showcases the lives of displaced people trying to create a space for themselves to call home in America and EthiopiäHadero¿s powerful stories usher characters along their searches for belonging, often with nothing but hope and a sense of community pushing them forward.¿¿Emily Park, Booklist, Starred Review¿Meron Hadero¿s dazzling short stories span the diaspora, poignantly portraying characters in search of opportunity and belonging. Rich with insight, compassion, and wit, A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times is an unforgettable debut.¿¿Vanessa Hua, bestselling author of A River of Stars and Forbidden City¿With enormous power and wonderful subtlety, Meron Hadero grants us access to the inner worlds of people at moments when everything is at risk. In the stories that make up A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times, the emotional stakes are high¿.these sharp, humane, beautiful portraits are a gift.¿¿Dinaw Mengestu, Achy Obejas, and Ilan Stavans, from the judges¿ citation¿Although she¿s concerned with specific geographies, Hadero creates a remarkable universal resonance, exquisitely illuminating quotidian moments that could, and do, happen anywhere in the world where people long to belong.... [A] stupendous collection¿. From narrative to narrative, Hadero is a wondrously agile writer.¿¿Terry Hong, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Best Books of June¿Hadero¿s characters face challenges including racism, crushing misunderstandings, and visits home that remind them of how much they no longer belong, if they ever did¿. Their experiences may be unique, but their desires to live in peace and happiness are universal. A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times is a heartfelt collection about the highs, lows, and ordinary of Ethiopian life.¿¿Eileen Gonzalez, Foreword Reviews, Starred Review¿Meron Hadero¿s A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times is an astonishing debut¿.If the danger faced by those who live on the anxious edge of societies, whether in Ethiopia or Germany or the United States, is not always¿or even often¿recognized, Hadero suggests, the signs are present long before they¿re understood. In A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times, she has crafted a profound collection that identifies this sensibility while also, in its overflow of stories, signaling the hope of a teller that a good listener will be ready to receive them.¿¿Anita Felicelli, Alta Journal¿It is the dignity that makes this collection a stunner.¿¿Lauren Francis-Sharma, San Francisco Chronicle¿The dispossessed peoples of the world are explored in Ethiopian-born Hadero¿s dazzling new story collection¿Each story has a lyrical power. As the author says: 'To be receptive to what the story needs, I try to step back and almost hear what the story sounds like from a reader¿s point of view.¿ She is definitely a writer to watch.¿¿Melanie Fleishman, The Center for Fiction