dinaw mengestu (born 30 june 1978) is an ethiopian-american novelist and writer. in addition to three novels, he has written for "rolling stone" on the war in darfur, and for "jane magazine" on the conflict in northern uganda. his writing has also appeared in "harper's", "the wall street journal", and numerous other publications. he is the program director of written arts at bard college. in 2007 the national book foundation named him a "5 under 35" honoree. since his first book was published in 2007, he has received numerous literary awards, and was selected as a macarthur fellow in 2012.