#WCW: Rebecca G. Haile. A Talented Author

Rebecca G. Haile. Rebecca Haile is the author of Held at a Distance: My Rediscovery of Ethiopia, a memoir about her return to Ethiopia after her family's forced exile following the 1974 revolution and twenty-five years in the United States. Ms. Haile is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she was a member of the ...

 

ABOUT HER:

Rebecca Haile was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1965. She came to the United States in 1976, two years after the Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed in the military coup of 1974, and shortly after her father, a leading academic in Addis Ababa, was targeted by the military junta and shot while resisting arrest. He barely survived, and the family managed to escape and eventually settled in central Minnesota, where they struggled with the strain of their drastically changed circumstances. 

 

Rebecca left Minnesota to attend Williams College in Massachusetts where she majored in English. She then attended Harvard Law School, where she was as an editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated with honors. She clerked for the Hon. Judge Dorothy Nelson of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and then worked at law firms in Washington, D.C. and in New York. She left the law to work as a freelance writer. Held at a Distance is her first book.

Rebecca lives in New York City with her husband Jean Manas and their two young children. She is a member of Manhattan's Community Board 6 and active in other community organizations.

Speaking

I've really enjoyed giving the talks that have followed publication of the book. Besides bookstore readings, I've spoken at colleges, universities and libraries, at Ethiopian events such as the millennium celebration in Los Angeles (more), to private book clubs and at a reading sponsored by an organization of adoptive families. Some highlights:

• Speaking at a fundraiser to benefit the St. Cloud Public Library in central Minnesota. I spent long hours at that library when I was in high school, and it felt great to help raise money for a new building. Thanks to my old English teacher Connie Crane for having me, and to all my high school friends for coming out in force. You made it a real homecoming.
  
  
• Speaking at the campuses of Montgomery College in Maryland. These community colleges have a significant minority student population that includes many Ethiopians. I thought a lot about young Ethiopians and their connection to both Ethiopian and American culture as I wrote the book, so I loved speaking to the students and hearing their thoughtful comments and questions. Thanks to Prof. Ellen Olmstead for tracking me down, and to members of the Ethiopian Student Association for inviting me a second time (and for bringing in a delicious Ethiopian lunch). You can see the ESA's many pictures here.
  
• Giving, together with my father, a joint keynote address at Harvard University's "Cultural Creativity in the Ethiopian American Diaspora," conference, an amazing three day affair. It is still hard for me to believe, given all those years when we were the only Ethiopians around, that there are upwards of 300,000 Ethiopians in America today – but the conference brought this point home. I learned so much about Ethiopian artistic and musical expression and about the demographics of the community. My dad, of course, was in his element, and it was a lot of fun to watch him (and my mother) interacting with long-time friends and colleagues. As for the keynote address – what a privilege. Speaking with my dad in that setting was an experience I will always cherish. Click here for the conference program and here for an article reporting on the event.

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