First published in 2022, A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times is Meron Hadero's debut short story collection. The book revolves around Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans, with the stories taking place in both countries. Many of the characters are immigrants to the United States - long-term residents, recent immigrants, and first-generation Americans. The stories in the collection offer details into the characters' lives as they navigate different parts of the immigrant experience: language barriers, new customs, discrimination, and a disconnect from home.
The collection was well-received by critics and won the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing and the AKO Caine Prize...
