Dinaw Mengestu: Art, Immigration, Masculinity, and the Power of Storytelling
Release Date: 08/05/2025
Season 5 Ep 6 | Sara Stibitz | A Ladder to the Stars
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In this episode of Some Things Considered, I had the pleasure of speaking with Sara Stibitz—NYT-bestselling collaborative writer, author of Writing on Purpose, and creator of the Substack A Ladder to the Stars—about creativity, narrative, and how story shapes everything we do. We went deep and wide, and some of the highlights include: Sara’s relationship to story:Why storytelling is central to human meaning, healing, and creative practice. A Ladder to the Stars:Helping writers navigate craft, publishing, emotional resilience, and building a sustainable creative life. Creativity as...
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Season 5 Ep 1 | Matt Davis | What does Mount Rushmore tell us about America?
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Season 4 Ep 11 | Karen E. Bender | Literary Fiction, Storytelling, and the Times We Live In
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Season 4 Ep 8 | Lisa Cooper Ellison | Writing, Resilience, and the Creative Life
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In this episode, I’m joined by Lisa Cooper Ellison—author, speaker, trauma-informed writing coach, and host of Writing Your Resilience. Lisa works at the intersection of storytelling and healing, using her personal experiences and clinical training to help writers transform difficult life events into meaningful art. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, HuffPost, Risk!, and more. She recently completed her memoir Please Stage Dive Carefully: How I Survived My Brother’s Suicide and Forgave Myself. Our conversation explores: The multiple hats every modern writer must wear:...
info_outlineToday’s guest is the acclaimed Ethiopian American novelist and writer Dinaw Mengestu, whose award-winning work has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and many other outlets. He currently directs the Written Arts program at Bard College and has been recognized as a MacArthur Fellow among numerous other honors.
I first encountered Dinaw at a recent event hosted by George Mason’s Cheuse Center—shout out to my alma mater!—where his insights lingered long after the talk. His artistry is compelling, but I was especially drawn to his reflections on two urgent themes: masculinity and immigration, and their intersection with art and politics in 2025.
We began by grappling with a pressing question: What use is art, especially novels, in an increasingly authoritarian climate? For me, the answer is clear—art becomes more vital than ever as a means to challenge, to bear witness, and to connect.
Dinaw’s work offers a nuanced exploration of human relationships and identity that transcends national boundaries. Where American novels often fixate on the nation, his stories probe the fragile balances that shape all our lives. In particular, we talked about how immigration narratives are not just political flashpoints but deeply human stories filled with complexity, survival, and sometimes silence.
His novel Someone Like Us exemplifies this approach, revealing how immigrant lives are collections of stories—some fabricated for survival, some never told—that demand empathy and deeper understanding.
We also tackled masculinity, a loaded and often misunderstood topic. Dinaw shared his views on male anger and violence as social constructs, shaped by cultural narratives that influence how identity and behavior are formed—and how those narratives show up in both fiction and media.
In this, our conversation circled back to the power of storytelling itself: how art can push back against reductive or toxic narratives by offering more authentic, nuanced perspectives. This is, I argued, a crucial form of resistance and a pathway to more peaceful social discourse.
We also touched on the challenges of engaging younger generations, especially in a world where reading is often seen as less appealing. Dinaw and I agreed on the importance of meeting readers where they are, connecting through culture and technology, and gently drawing them into the broader world of literature.
This wide-ranging conversation offers a lot for anyone interested in how art, identity, and politics intersect today—and why stories matter more than ever.
ABOUT DINAW MENGESTU
Facebook: Dinaw Mengestu
X (formerly Twitter): @dinawmengestu
Instagram: @dinaw_mengestu
ABOUT SOME THINGS CONSIDERED
Award-winning author Sean Murphy in conversation with creative thinkers, spanning the literary, music, art, politics, and tech industries. As a cultural critic, professor, founder of a literary non-profit, Sean is always looking to explore and celebrate the ways Story is integral to how we define ourselves, as artists and human beings. This Substack newsletter and weekly podcast peels back the layers of how creativity works, why it matters, how our most brilliant minds achieve mastery. Join us to explore how our most successful and inspired storytellers engage by discussing craft, routines, brand, and mostly through authentic and honest expression.
ABOUT HOST SEAN MURPHY
Website: seanmurphy.net
Substack: seanmurphy.live
Twitter: @bullmurph
Instagram: @bullmurph
Facebook: facebook.com/AuthorSeanMurphy
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sean-murphy-4986b41