Dinaw Mengestu was bron in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1978. In 1980, he immigrated to the United States with his mother and sister, joining his father, who had fled Ethiopia during the Red Terror. graduate of Georgetown University and Columbia University's MFA program in fication from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Mengestu has written for Rolling Stone, among other publications. He lives in New York City.