Canongate signs two-book deal with 'thrilling new voice' Hadero

Canongate has scooped A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times, a "richly crafted" collection of short stories, alongside an untitled novel, by Meron Hadero.

Editor at Canongate Aa’Ishah Hawton acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to the debut collection and novel in a two-book deal from Anna Carmichael at Abner Stein.

"An enterprising young man on the verge of losing his home in Addis Ababa pursues an improbable opportunity to turn his life around," the synopsis reads. "A woman visiting her country of origin for the first time finds that an ordinary object opens up an unexpected, complex bridge between worlds. An intergenerational friendship forms between two refugees living in Iowa who have connections to Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

"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."

The collection was published by Restless Books in the US earlier this year, and will be released in the UK in December.

Hawton said: "In these richly crafted stories of the heartbreak of displacement and the search for home, Meron Hadero makes a notoriously difficult form look effortless. Rarely have I felt such emotional connection with characters so briefly on the page. This collection marks the start of what I think is going to be a long and exciting literary career from a truly thrilling new voice, and I’m honoured to be a part of this journey with Meron."

Hadero is an Ethiopian-American who was born in Addis Ababa and came to the US via Germany as a young child. She won the 2021 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, and her short stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern among others. She was a contributor to The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Live (Abrams).

She said: "These narratives about immigrants, refugees and those at risk of displacement explore what I hope are universal themes arising from a desire for security, home and belonging. I’ve been so moved by the generous reception this book has had in the US, and I’m thrilled to be working with Canongate to bring these stories to a broader audience."