In January 1991, when civil war came to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, two-thirds of the city’s population fled. Among them was eight-year-old Asad Abdullahi. His mother murdered by a militia, his father somewhere in hiding, he was swept alone into the great wartime migration that scattered the Somali people throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the world. South African journalist Jonny Steinberg tells Asad’s story in his book A Man of Good Hope, from his teen years as a street hustler to his love and marriage, and his ambitious journey to Johannesburg, South Africa to make his fortune. Steinberg talks about his book and the African diaspora with Dinaw Mengestu, Ethiopian-born author of the novels The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears andAll Our Names and a MacArthur Fellow among other literary honors.  Steinberg is the recipient of one of the inaugural Windham Campbell Prizes for nonfiction; his reading is introduced by Michael Kelleher, the director of the Windham Campbell Prizes at Yale. The post-event reception will feature Tusker Lager from Kenya, courtesy of Windham Campbell.

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