Abe Gubegna


Abe Gubegna, also spelled "Abbé" or "Abbie", was an Ethiopian novelist and playwright.

Life & work

He was born in Achefer, Yismala Giorgis and attended the local church schools where he became acquainted with liturgical poetry and music. Actually he didn't attend a university, but he attended his secondary school in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He became a journalist and, later, a civil servant. He eventually decided to devote all his time to writing, becoming Ethiopia's first full-time professional writer. He was very outspoken on political issues and many of his books were banned. At one point, he was sentenced to three years of forced confinement to a small area surrounding his home.
During the "Red Terror – White Terror" days 1976–1979 he was one of the outspoken "Apostles" of change that nonetheless decried the blood shed others in the leftist movements believed were not only unavoidable but necessary. His vehemence against violence resulted in a newspaper article in which he suggested those thirsty for blood may be better served drinking their wive's menstrual flow.
Though this comment garnered him the ill-will of those who urged bloodshed and violence there is no indication that it led to anything more than his being sidelined for his immodesty.
His most famous novel is Aliwalidim, a satire about a baby who refuses to emerge from his mother's womb because of the unjust world waiting outside.
In his later years, he participated in the International Writing Fellowship Program at the University of Iowa.
He is credited with the following well-known quote :

Works in English