MESFIN HABTEMARIAM EXPORT FINAL

The Ethiopian Writers Association (EWA) had recently organized a special event to honor a prolific and veteran author that has stamped a gargantuan footprint on Ethiopian literary history.
Mesfine Habte Mariam is one of the two Ethiopian elites that in the mid of 1960s E.C stood the rare fortune of learning Creative Writing abroad– at British Colombia University in Canada.
A good number of the senior language and literature instructors at A.A.U are his students.
Up on return, Mesfine opted not to remain a paper tiger confining his activities to lecturing about Creative Writing at Addis Ababa University (A.A.U) (the then Haileselassie University), where he taught for over 13 years (1963 E.C to1976 E.C).
As such unleashing his talent of writing, well backed by a state-of-the-art education, in a course of over three decades, as heads of EWA and researchers citing MA and Ph.D students’ works on the occasion noted, Mesfine had produced over five hundred informal essays that predominantly revolve around social issues:culture, development, education, Art(photo,music…) and pretentious people. He still writers.
The theme of over half of his pieces being society signifies his closeness to the society.
As a torch bearer he is a writer who took a step ahead from fellow citizens, to the heart beat of which he has calibrated his pen. As the saying goes a writer’s life is a mirror reflection of the society he lived in, from Mesfine’s works it is possible to decipher facts on the ground during his era.
He draws attention to important things people fail to notice or downplayed. Nudging them out of their slumber he makes readers pay heed to their day to day life and have a psychological perspective. Some of his essays are deliberately left open ended so that readers could fill the gap.
He tells readers about his observations,astonishment and views. Not opting for complicated plots, borrowing instances from the life of ordinary people he tells readers stories that stir deep feelings.
As some assert, next to religion, a white paper, writers jot their ideas on, has the power of shaping people. True to this fact Mesfine authors pieces that help readers or listeners swallow the bitter pill of life with honey trickling down his pen.
His works tell on his probing power and the mightiness of his pen in reforming society. His flowery sentences are neither short nor long. Figurative speeches are at the tip of his fingers. He is a writer who could elegantly put on paper the ideas that loiter in his mind. The fine-tuning of the title and the body of Mesfine’s pieces is what strikes many. The characters he paints have contrasting behaviors.
According to his contemporaries he is comfortable of writing under any circumstance. He could write taking liquor or otherwise.
Mesfine was born in1935 E.C in Mojo. It was in Mojo and Ambo he attended his elementary and high School education. He got his B.A in Ethiopian Language and Literature From A.A.U in 1962. Mesfine had also taught Amharic in Eriteria.
The declining of his age notwithstanding, he is still writing to eke out a living. Yet the conspiracy of illness and old age has resulted in the faltering of his pen ,in which he vests great hope .
Asked about how he developed the bent for writing, Mesfine attributed his lust for writing to his mother,his inspiration for authorship to his high school teacher and his reading and observing habit to the renowned journalist Pawlos Gnogno .
Also the poetry contests and contests on other genres being organized at A.A.U while he was a student there had wielded a great influence on him.
Mesfine who likes reading and reflecting deep is also a translator. In radios ,magazines and news papers he has entertained and informed many via his innumerable literary pieces original and translated.
Among his works only few are compiled in a book form. Yebuna Bet Siloch (Paintings drawn on the walls of Bars) Awde Amete (Holiday) Yelelit Dimtsoch (Voices of the Night) have thirty,ten and twelve informal essays respectively. Yebuna Bet Siloch that mocks the lack of dimension of the paintings are among the works that let him elbow his way into the hearts of readers.
He has a book entitled “Azeb” bearing a collection of short stories.
As a critic Mesfine Habtemariam has presided over and actively participated in book review programs.
A pioneer in and a father of informal essay in Ethiopia , an instructor, an author of short stories, a translator and a critic the versatile Mesfine has rendered invaluable service for his country.
While M.A student in Canada he had managed to get a short story entitled “The Missing Gray” published in the reputed book Prism International. The only Ethiopian to get published in this book he has thus played an ambassadorial role to his country. Herald in due course of time will let you read this short story, that demonstrated Ethiopian authors prowess in the medium of English Language.