In this acclaimed memoir, Mezlekia recalls his boyhood in the arid city of Jijiga, Ethiopia, and his journey to manhood during the 1970s and 1980s. He traces his personal evolution from child to soldier--forced at the age of eighteen to join a guerrilla army. And he describes the hardships that consumed Ethiopia after the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie and the rise to power of the communist junta, in whose terror thousands of Ethiopians died. Part autobiography and part social history,Notes from the Hyena's Bellyoffers an unforgettable portrait of Ethiopia, and of Africa, during the defining and turbulent years of the last century.

Nega Mezlekia's profile page

Nega Mezlekia left Ethiopia in 1983 with little more than the clothes he was wearing. An engineer with degrees from Addis Ababa University and McGill University, he now lives in Toronto, where he is working on a novel.

"[A] powerful memoir. . . . By skillfully interleaving personal history, politics, and Amhara fables. . . . [Mezlekia] has produced the most riveting book about Ethiopia since Ryszard Kapuscinski's literary allegoryThe Emperorand the most distinguished African literary memoir since Soyinka's Ake appeared 20 years ago."--Rob Nixon,The New York Times Book Review

"Topical, moving, and fascinating. Nega Mezlekia concentrates his mind on his nation's history as he tells his own tale in prose imbued with a sense of commitment to turth. It is the best memoir by an Ethiopian that I've ever read."--Nuruddin Farah, author ofMapsandSecrets.

"A glimpse into Hell. By some feat of alchemy, Mezlekia has transformed the nightmare that was his life in Ethiopia into a gripping story. Mandatory reading for anyone trying to understand Africa today."--Eric McCormack, author ofFirst Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women

"A masterful narrative that steeps the reader in Ethiopian folklore, myth, theology, and philosophy, blurring the boundaries between the spiritual and material worlds. Rich in wisdom, humor, and poetry, this is not simply the story of a boy coming of age, it is a portrait of a nation and its people."--George Makana Clark, author ofThe Small Bees' Honey

"Magical . . . What makes Nega Mezlekia's memoir such a delight is the wonderment, at crazy life and crazier fate, that informs every page."--Charles Foran, author ofThe Story of My Life (So Far)

"Mezlekia has a born storyteller's knack for pacing, and in his musical voice he manages to convey the helter-skelter of his existence . . . A story of high drama told with aplomb."--Kirkus Reviews