writers Famous Writers from Ethiopia
List of famous writers from Ethiopia, listed alphabetically with photos when available. Ethiopia is home to many prolific writers, including those who write fiction, non-fiction, poetry, biographies and more. These are some of the best Ethiopian writers that have ever lived, so if you're a native of Ethiopia and an aspiring writer then use this list as inspiration to achieve your own writing goals.
List features writers like Mengistu Lemma, Nikos Papatakis and more!
This list answers the questions, "Who are popular Ethiopian writers?" and "Which writers are from Ethiopia?"
You can click on the names of these renowned writers of Ethiopia in order to get more information about each one. Some of these historic writers may no longer be living in Ethiopia, but they're all of Ethiopia descent.
Nikos Papatakis was a Greek-born naturalised French filmmaker, who lived in France. ...more on Wikipedia
Birthplace: Addis Ababa, Africa, Ethiopia
Nationality: Greece, Ethiopia
Works: The Photograph
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Haile Gerima is an Ethiopian filmmaker who lives and works in the United States. He is a leading member of the L.A. Rebellion film movement, also known as the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers. His films have received wide international acclaim. Since 1975, Gerima has also been an influential film professor at Howard University in Washington, DC. He is best known for Sankofa, which won numerous international awards. ...more on Wikipedia
Birthplace: Gondar, Ethiopia
Nationality: Ethiopia
Works: Morning Dew, Bush Mama, Ashes and Embers, Imperfect Journey, After Winter: Sterling Brown
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Nega Mezlekia is an Ethiopian writer who writes in English. His first language is the Amharic language, but since the 1980s he has lived in Canada so speaks and writes in English. Nega was born in Jijiga, the oldest son of Mezlekia, a bureaucrat in the Imperial government. Although initially supporting the revolution that deposed Emperor Haile Selassie, he grew strongly critical of the regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam. As a late teenager he abandoned his mother and siblings and set off with his best friend to join one of the armed rebel groups. In 1983 he left his position at Haramaya University to accept an engineering scholarship and study at Wageningen University. After two years in the ...more on Wikipedia
Birthplace: Jijiga, Ethiopia
Nationality: Canada, Ethiopia
Works: The god who begat a jackal, Notes from the Hyena's Belly, Dans le ventre d'une hyène
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Dinaw Mengestu is an Ethiopian-American novelist and writer. In addition to three novels, he has written for Rolling Stone on the war in Darfur, and for Jane Magazine on the conflict in northern Uganda. His writing has also appeared in Harper's, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other publications. He is Lannan Chair of Poetics at Georgetown University. Since his first book was published in 2007, he has received numerous literary awards, and was selected as a MacArthur Fellow in 2012. ...more on Wikipedia
Birthplace: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Nationality: Ethiopia
Works: Children of the Revolution, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
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