Poet

Tagel Seifu

(Ethiopia, 0)

Biography

Tagel Seifu is a witty and prolific novelist, poet and performer who published his first book of poems and short stories, Fiker (Love), at the age of 16. I love the titles of his collections, as well as the poems, for example Kefown Atinkut (Do not touch the beehive) and Yesedom Fitsame (The end of Sodom). There are many YouTube clips of him reading his poems to great acclaim.

Songs We Learn From the Trees is the first anthology of Amharic poetry to be translated in English. A first taste of a rich literature for English readers. Anthologies naturally group writers together, but in order to enable each of the excerpted poets to stand out on their own, Poetry International Archives is presenting them individually, with brief biographies provided by the book's editors.