Big news afoot in Laramie. This week, Dinaw Mengestu will join us for the first of two visits to campus this term as our Eminent Visiting Writer. This means, he’ll not only sit down with us for an MFA Q&A, present a public reading, and break bread with us in our Carriage House home, but  he’ll also be a part of our community—joining us for a famous potluck, reading our stories in manuscript consultations, and running a workshop for nonfiction and fiction writers. He’ll even get his own key to the Eminent Visiting Writer office. (I know, it’s pretty snazzy).

For those who don’t know: Mengestu is a recipient of the 2012 MacArthur Foundation Genius Award. Born in Ethiopia and raised in Illinois, his fiction and journalism have been published in The New Yorker, Granta, Harper’s, Rolling Stone, and the Wall Street Journal. He was chosen for the 5 under 35 Award by the National Book Foundation in 2007 and was named on The New Yorker “20 under 40” list in 2010. He is also the recipient of a  Lannan Fiction Fellowship, The Guardian First Book Award, The Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Prix du Premier Meilleur Roman Etranger, among other awards. His novel, All our Names, will be published in March 2013. He is the author of two other novels: The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (2008) and How to Read the Air (2010), both New York Times Notable Books. His work has been translated into more than fifteen languages.

We’re really excited to have him here, and look forward to meeting him tomorrow!