Tsegaye gebremedhin english poems
- •
Laureate Tsegaye Gebre-medihin Cultural Studies and Research Center
Laureate Tsegaye G/Medihn Cultural Studies and Research Center
Laureate Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, is a famous and leading Ethiopian poet and playwright who unreservedly contributed to the development of literary during his lifetime. He was born in a village known as Bodda, which is located at a distance of not more than 30 Km from Ambo town where he attended his elementary education and planted the seed of literary work writing his first play in English in his fifteen years old about ‘King Dionysus and the Two brothers’ which was staged at Ambo in the presence, among others Haile Selassie I. He had an exceptional quality and talent and had been continuously fruitful for a half a century as ‘a poet, playwright, essayist, social critic, philologist, historiographer, dramatist, synthesis, peace activist, and artistic director’ (Gdlie, 2019; Negussay, 2000). He wrote many poets and more than 30 plays most of them in Amharic and translated a number of plays of others including Shakespeare’s and Moliere’s into Amharic
- •
Remembering a Poet Laureate: Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin’s 75th Birthday Anniversary
Published by Tadias MagazineAugust 23rd, 2011in Events.Tadias Magazine
Events News
Tuesday, August, 23, 2011
New York (Tadias) – A special celebration honoring the life and work of Ethiopia’s Poet Laureate, the late Tsegaye Gebremedhin, will be held in Addis Ababa and Washington DC throughout the year.
“Family and friends of the late Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin are celebrating the poet’s 75th birthday anniversary and his work,” the press release states. “Author of around 34 plays in Amharic and about 10 plays in English, along with several volumes of poetry Gabre-Medhin is widely recognized as among Ethiopia’s most prolific and acclaimed writers. As part of an ongoing effort to keep his literary legacy alive, family and friends are organizing a year-long series of events in Addis Ababa and Washington DC.”
A few years ago, in an essay entitled A Short Walk Thro by Wendy Laura Belcher. Published in the Ethiopian Review (October 1998). Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin. No living person more symbolizes the greatness of Ethiopian literature than this poet and playwright. A leader of Ethiopian intellectuals since the 1960s, Tsegaye has shaped (and survived) tumultuous changes in Ethiopia's history. Today he remains a national treasure. Tsegaye was born in 1936 into a family as complex as Ethiopia. On his father's side were warriors, on his mother's, clergy. He is part Amhara and part Oromo. Birthed in a village, he was raised in a town. He attended church school, where he became fascinated with the Ethiopian form of poetry called qene, and then a British school, where he became fascinated with the Western form of drama called pantomime. It is no surprise that he has spent his life making links between traditions, forging connections where others see only difference. Tsegaye wrote his first play when he was fifteen. After traveling on scholarship to various European theaters in 1
•
Ethiopia's Poet Laureate: Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin
Copyright ©icythaw.pages.dev 2025