Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin

Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin was born on August 17, 1936, in Boda, near Ambo. Educated in law at Blackstone School of Law in Chicago and in theatrical production at the Royal Court Theatre in London and Comedie-Française in Paris, he became the artistic director of the Ethiopian National Theatre at age twenty-five.

Tsegaye wrote monumental plays in Amharic and English celebrating African resilience, notably Oda Oak Oracle, Tewodros, and Petros Giyorgis. He famously translated Shakespeare's Othello, Macbeth, and Hamlet into exquisite classical Amharic verse. A fearless critic of authoritarianism under both the monarchy and the Derg, he coined the immortal motto for the African Union: 'Let us unite to give our people freedom from hunger and dignity from bondage.'