Another anthology in the Akashic Books series and another worthwhile addition to any library. It’s easier to relate to stories from a place you know, and picking at random from the fourteen Addis Ababa stories does not provide much information about the place. But that does not matter, the first story Kind Stranger by Meron Hadero is good. And with an anthology, you don’t read the stories in any particular order. So just dive in, there is really no other way to select.

Like most collections by a panoply of authors, Addis Ababa Noir, benefits and suffers from the usual set of circumstances: it provides a general overview of the genre in a particular place, Ethiopia, at a particular time, post-war scenarios for the most part; but it does not allow for a deep dive into any of the authors. Hopefully, the collection will serve as a starting point to explore a literature - and authors - that do not usually get attention by those of us located in the US.

Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia. I can't say after having read this book that there are any great writing talents there. ( )

I know the series name is the hook here, but I would not call these stories "noir". Yes, they all take place in Addis Ababa, and each is dark in some way, though some are more supernatural than traditionally violent. I wouldn't say good vs evil is undefined either, as most of these are quite clear. But maybe the "noir" genre is undergoing a redefinition--possibly defined by this series? My favorite thing about this series of books, though, is being introduced to current writers I am not familiar with.

Anyway. I have never been to Ethiopia or (obviously) Addis Ababa. I cannot speak to the geographical accuracy of these stories. These are all set in and around the city, but I expected more of the city itself feeling like a character. A few gave a taste of the city itself: Fiseha's "Ostrich" did, as a young woman returns to the city she grew up in. Seyoum's "Under the Minibus Ceiling" definitely did. Others, like Giorgis's "A Double-Edged Inheritace" and Hailemariam's "None of Your Business" speak more to life in Ethiopia in general. Fantaye's "Of the Poet and the Cafe" is more in the style of weird fiction, and might have been my favorite (though it can be so hard to pick just one in an anthology).

The included authors are a mix of Ethiopians living in and out of Ethiopia. Two of the stories (by Fantaye and Seyoum) are translated (presumably from Amharic, though the book does not say).
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Thank you to LibraryThing Early Reviewers and Akashic Books for providing me with a review copy of this book. ( )