Mihret Sibhat
Author of
The History of a Difficult Child (Viking, 2022)
Mihret Sibhat was born and raised in a small town in southwestern Ethiopia. A graduate of University of Minnesota’s MFA program, she’s a 2019 A Public Space Fellow and a 2019 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grantee. Her first novel, The History of a Difficult Child, is forthcoming from Viking Books in 2022.
Represented by Ayesha Pande
Book BY Mihret
The History of a Difficult Child (Viking, 2022)
The History of A Difficult Child is a captivating tragicomic family saga set in a small town in Ethiopia. Told through the perspective of its funny, charming and occasionally irritating narrator, the story takes the reader into the heart of the Asmelash family, former landowners who are hated by the community of nosy women in the town. Wisecracking, inquisitive, and bombastic, Selam Asmelash, the youngest child in her large, boisterous family, beguiles the reader with her wry omniscience before she even emerges from her mother’s cancerous uterus. Her voice, at once brash and vulnerable, brings the book to vibrant life and provides a perspective both intimate and sweeping: a small Ethiopian town in the 80’s, floundering in the social upheaval induced by a socialist dictatorship, civil war and famine; a formerly land-owning family, stripped of their property after the revolution and persecuted for their conversion to Pentecostalism; and of course gossipy neighbors, a greek chorus that documents all the turmoil–personal and political. As she grows up, Selam, wise beyond her years yet thoroughly naive, must contend with poverty, bullies, and the death of loved ones. She deals with all of it through humor and megalomania, endowing herself with various powers to gain control of her situation and escape sadness.
Praise
“Sibhat wonderfully distills the political and historical context into a personal story, and centers Selam’s emotional turmoil with inventive narration...This is a standout.” —Publishers Weekly (starred)
“Sibhat tells Selam’s tale with verve, offering a vibrant panorama of Ethiopian society in all its complexity with an unforgettable protagonist at the center.” —Booklist (starred)
“Sibhat’s vivid narrative is captivating, particularly for its emotional depth, even as some of the events she depicts are shocking. She has achieved any fiction writer’s first goal—transporting the reader into another world—and has set the bar high for what promises to be a brilliant career.” —BookPage (starred)