| About |

‘The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.’

[Francis Bacon]

My name is MG Zimeta and I’m a philosopher and writer.  I was born in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, and grew up in London, England.

As a philosopher I specialise in philosophy of art and related areas.  I read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Somerville College, Oxford, and then went on to do an MPhil in Philosophy at King’s College, Cambridge, followed by a PhD in Philosophy at the University of York where my thesis was awarded a Pass Without Corrections – the highest possible PhD award.

My MPhil dissertation was on emotional responses to fictional characters, and my PhD thesis was on metaphor. My MPhil may have had a section on characters in computer games, and my PhD may have had a chapter on philosophy of jokes. I’m also keen on Ancient Greek philosophy and literature, and philosophy of science.

As a writer I specialise in geopolitics and international development.  I’ve reported from Cambodia and from Ukraine, been a grantee of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, served on an advisory group at Chatham House, and written for leading UK and USA titles such as The London Review of Books, The Paris Review, and The Atlantic. I began my journalism career in traditional reporting, commentary and analysis; these days my interests are more in reportage, lyric essay, and creative non-fiction. 

Philosophy began in Ancient Greece as public conversations in the town centre. I think a contemporary way of doing this is through activities such as broadcasts and events, and I’ve participated in several TV, radio and festival programmes. There’s more about my work on this website, including how to stay in touch.

‘You’re already born; ain’t nothing you can do about that. You’re going to die, you know you are.
You got a little bit of time. You got some dragons to slay? Pick the ones you want to slay. Make it worthwhile.’

[Toni Morrison, A Humanist View]