Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu is a writer and poet, born in 1981 and raised in Eritrea. Living in Munich, Germany since December 2018, was a scholarship holder for Pen Germany. She published her work extensively in Eritrea’s mass media since the late 1990th. She was a co-founder of the well-known “the Literary Club of Adi-keyh.” She went to Asmara Teachers Training Institute (ATTI). From 09/2003 until the Government banned, and arrested all the staff in February 2009, Yirgalem was working for the educational Radio Bana. She spent six years (2009-2015) in the infamous Mai-Serwa military prison, in Eritrea where she subjected to physical torture and interrogation. Again, she arrested for another four months in 2016/2017 for trying to flee her country. She left Eritrea in March 2018.
Yirgalem was one of the 100 Heros of information-2014 listed by RSF, In 2019 on International Women’s Day, PEN International featured Yirgalem as one of five writers who are changing the rules. Received Pen Eritrea’s Freedom of Expression Award-2019, MMY Independent Journalism & Courage award -2022, Georg Elser-prize-2023 and Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis für Literatur-2023.
She published a poetry book, “ኣለኹ” (2019) and a collection of stories and essays from prison, “ዘይበረየ ጐድነይ” (2022) both in Tigrinya. And she published a volume of collection translation into German ‘Ich bin am Leben,’ and ‘Freiheit in Briefen,’ the latter co-authored with Tanja Kinkel, in 2023.
