Soaring on Winged Verse
Soaring on Winged Verse: The Life of Ethiopian Poet Playwright Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin, the official biography of the late Ethiopian Poet Laureate, has been released.
This book gives readers the most complete look into the life and prolific career of Tsegaye, a playwright and author of influential poetry in both Amharic and English. The carefully crafted 244-page biography is the product of extensive interview sessions in New York between the poet and the author, Fasil Yitbarek, leading up to Tsegaye’s death in early 2006, as well as posthumous research in both the United States and Ethiopia.
Beyond providing a biographical account of the events that shaped the poet’s life, Soaring on Winged Verse serves as an intimate window into the writer’s world and provides readers a glimpse into his creative musings and to his remarkable journey as a writer, traveller, and advocate for his home country.
Author Fasil Yitbarek, professor of English at Qatar University in Doha, Qatar, draws on years of friendship with Tsegaye and his family in Soaring on Winged Verse. The memoir follows Embilta, a book of poetry in Amharic (2007), and a novel, The Texture of Dreams (2005). In Soaring on Winged Verse, readers will encounter a story that goes beyond mere facts to encompass the inspiration of Tsegaye’s remarkable and dynamic life.
