Meet Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes, shortlisted for the 2024 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award
In this fascinating podcast Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes talks about ‘Teret Teret’ – the ceremonial phrase for introducing stories in Ethiopian culture – and the importance of poetry to the act of storytelling itself.
Yirga says, ‘I like to write about the sacred places, holy people and beautiful stories from my country. This for me is an expression of gratitude for my becoming, and guilt for failing to give back as much as I wanted. This is an unusual story that breaks the boundaries of time, place and cultures. As a person, I love crossing multiple worlds and languages with a heart that bleeds with despair and rejoices with love. Hope is a poetic force that carries me across these boundaries.’
Tune in on your favourite podcast app to hear a reading from the manuscript and to find out what fiction publisher Georgia Richter thought of የተስፋ ፈተና / Trials of Hope.
Show notes
About Yirga
Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes is a writer, researcher and poet from Lalibela, Ethiopia. He currently lives in Boorloo (Perth) where he is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University. His Amharic poetry has been published and performed widely on stage and radio in Ethiopia. His English short stories, translated poems and memoir have been published in anthologies and journals, including Westerly, Unlimited Futures (Fremantle Press) and Stories of Perth (Seizure). He was the 2023 Red Room Poetry Emerging Poet in Residence and one of thirty poets featured in Red Room’s ‘30in30’ National Australian Poetry Month celebrations. Follow Yirga’s Hungerford journey on X: @YirgaGelaw
About the hosts
Georgia Richter has an MA (Creative Writing) from the University of Western Australia and is an IPEd Accredited Editor. She has taught creative writing, professional writing and editing at the universities of Melbourne and Western Australia, as well as at Curtin University. Georgia joined Fremantle Press in 2008 as the fiction, narrative non-fiction and poetry publisher.
Books by Georgia Richter, Fremantle Press publisher
How to be an Author: The Business of Being a Writer in Australia
Claire Miller is the Head of Sales and Marketing at Fremantle Press where she produces the Fremantle Press podcast and oversees the City of Fremantle Hungerford Award.
About the award
Anticipation Peaks as Four Writers Contend for the City of Fremantle Hungerford Award
Proudly sponsored by the City of Fremantle, Fremantle Press and the Centre for Stories, Western Australia’s most prestigious award for an unpublished work of adult fiction, narrative non-fiction or young adult fiction by an unpublished writer offers a cash prize of $15,000, a publishing contract with Fremantle Press and a fellowship at the Centre for Stories. In 2024, the City of Fremantle Hungerford Award will celebrate its 33rd year.
Music: ‘Letter to a Daughter of St George’, from the Meat Lunch EP: Songs from Floaters. Written by Alan Fyfe. Performed by Trevor Bentley (guitar and vocals – @trevormb) and Chris Parkinson (harmonica). Produced by Blake Carnaby of Nuglife studios with impresario work by Benjamin P. Newton.
Producer: Claire Miller
Mastered and edited by: Aidan d’Adhemar
