Daniel R. Mekonnen* PEN Eritrea in Exile participated in the ICORN Network Meeting & PEN International WiPC Conference that took place in the city of Lillehammer (Norway) from 31 May to 2 June 2017. The event, which was a joint biennial conference, was one of the most important international gatherings of writers and artists from
Natsnet’s story in Saudi Arabia is typical of the life of most domestic workers in the Gulf, where they are kept as prisoners working long hours and subjected to humiliation and harassment by the families they serve. The unfortunate fate Natsnet and other victims of the modern-day slavery of domestic labor in Gulf countries is
By Tesfagiorgis Habte* A day reconstructed from memory June 30, 2012 It is an ordinary day in Mai-Serwa military prison camp, one of the most notorious higher-security military prison camps in Eritrea. Since February 19, 2009, when I was escorted from my office in the Ministry of Education, it has been 1,227 days in state
Habte Selassie, Bereket. Deliverance: A Tale of Colliding Passions and the Muse of Forgiveness. New Jersey: Red Sea Press, 2017, 330 pages Bereket Habte Selassie’s Deliverance: A Tale of Colliding Passions and the Muse of Forgiveness (2017) is a novel based on the recent history of Ethiopia during which the last emperor was dethroned in
This convoluted procedure has made it nearly impossible to get a history book published; yet on the very rare occasion when someone succeeds, the inevitable response is, “Who are you to write our history?” Be it an article for international media or a research work, anyone who attempts to write on Eritrea is ostensibly
ሓጻር ዛንታ ሽሕ’ኳ ሎሚ ተጋዳላይ ኮይነ፡ ካብታ ኣብሊጸ ዝፈትዋ ከተማ ከረን ኣማኢት ኪሎ ሜተራት ርሒቐ ኣብ’ዚ ኸርፋሕ ጎቦታት ሳሕል እንተ ሰፈርኩ፡ እቲ ኣብኣ ዘሕለፍኩዎ ምቁር ትዝታታት ንእስነት ክሳብ ሎሚ ኣይረሳዕኩዎን። እዋይ ብኡነት! ኣብዚ ጭው ዝበለ ሓውሲ ምድረበዳ ካብ ዝኣቱ ሸሞንተ ዓመት ኣሕሊፈ ወደይ! ኤእ … እንታይ’ሞ ይገበር … ይኹን’ምበር፡ እዛ ፍልይቲ ፍጻመ እዚኣ ሓንቲ ኻብተን
Excerpted from Pen International World Press Freedom Day 3 May 2017 – In 2017 Eritrea continues to be one of the worst jailers of writers and dissident voices, earning the dubious honour of the most censored country in the world in 2015. PEN International is aware of at least 17 journalists currently held incommunicado or
Yonatan Tewelde “They questioned him sternly for several minutes, and then the director stood up and asked him to stretch out his arm. He hit the student several times on his palm with a stick. The boy, who was obviously in pain, at one point pulled his hand back and was roughly ordered to put
ኵሉ ሃርፎት’ዩ ትምኒት መጻኢ ዘቋሰየ ቍልዕነቱ ብሕንቃቐ ምስ ዛረየ ኣካላቱ ዓዂኹ ምስ ረኣየ ትልሚ ፍልጠቱ ብምርጫኡ ምስ ዛረየ ድሌቱ ሰሚሩ ኣብቲ ቀጽሪ ‘ተዝጽንበር ብመሰሉ እንተ ዝእከብ እንተ ዝመክር እንተ ዝካታዕ ንማእሰርቲ ኣቦ መንበር እንድዒ’ኳ እንተዝውዕላ እታ ዕለት ካብ መደቀሲኡ ተገዲዱ እንተዝውሰድ ዓለም ምረኣናያ እንታይ ከምትፈርድ?! ዘይከውን’ዩ ኰይኑ ግዜ ቍሩብ ውሒዳ ጽባሕ ከይትኸውን