Quote by Maaza Mengiste: “Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the decision that something else is more important.”

Bravery isn't about not being afraid — everyone who does something hard is afraid. What makes someone courageous is choosing to act anyway, because they value something — a person, a principle, a future — more than their own safety or comfort. Fear and courage can coexist.

Mengiste published The Shadow King in 2019, a novel set during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 that centres the role of women soldiers. The book arrived during heightened global conversations about women in conflict zones and the erasure of women from official historical narratives.

Ethiopian-American novelist and essayist whose 2020 novel The Shadow King, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, explored the Ethiopian resistance to Mussolini's invasion. She is known for her work on visual history, memory, and African women's experiences of war. She teaches at Queens College, CUNY.