Skip to main content
Outdated Browser

For the best experience using our website, we recommend upgrading your browser to a newer version or switching to a supported browser.

More Information

Writing from Ethiopia and Italy

October 2012

In this collection, originally featured in the October 2012 issue of Words Without Borders, Maaza Mengiste, author of Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, introduces three pieces connecting Ethiopia and Italy. Italo-Ethiopian novelist Gabriella Ghermandi returns to her homeland to honor her father, graphic novelist Paolo Castaldi tracks a tragic emigration, and poet Surafel Wondimu curses the gods.

The World Between: Writing from Ethiopia and Italy
By Maaza Mengiste
I come from a country with close to ninety languages.
I Remember
By Gabriella Ghermandi
You always talked about Crevalcore when it rained.
Translated from Italian by Victoria Offredi Poletto & Giovanna Bellesia-Contuzzi
Multilingual
from “Etenesh”
By Paolo Castaldi
“When we get to Tripoli, you’re on your own.”
Translated from Italian by Maaza Mengiste
Demokratia
By Surafel Wondimu
Shame on your charade, Athena.
Translated from Amharic by Fasil Yitbarek
Multilingual