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Jul 31 , 2026 . By Blen Hailu

The Room Where Writers Claim the Pen

I made my way recently to Social Addis for the tenth gathering of Writer Circle, and found the room fuller and braver than the one I had sat in 10 months earlier. What began as a simple wish among friends, a stage given over entirely to poetry and writing, has in that short span become one of the mo...

Jul 25 , 2026 . By Blen Hailu

Modern Pressures Send Gender Debates Back to Old Certainties

A recent exchange on an Addis Abeba dating show captured a debate that is resurfacing far beyond entertainment. A 22-year-old man feels cleaning the house was a woman's responsibility. Three of the four women opposite him, aged between 20 and 21, retorted. They would date only a millionaire or billionaire. The conversation took place during a "Blind Dating" segment on Shuf TV, in a format familiar to followers of Western dating channels such as Poppies Studios. The contestants were looking for potential matches, but their answers revealed something broader. Beneath the language and appearan...


Jul 18 , 2026 . By Blen Hailu

The City That Learns to Run All Year

In the mornings and late afternoons, the parks of Addis Abeba fill with people who have come to move. As parks and recreational grounds have multiplied across the city, jogging, running, and open-air exercise have turned from a rarity into an ordinary sight. Some walk briskly along newly laid pathways, others stretch before a run, and groups of friends and organised clubs work their way through the designated tracks and open spaces, each moving at their own pace, drawn from every age group and background the city holds. For years, the country's best-loved running event was the annual Gre...


Jul 11 , 2026 . By Blen Hailu

A Show that Begins with a Scream, Ends in Stillness

Tucked within the quiet and tree-lined compound of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura on Belay Zeleke St., in the Semen Hotel area, Yared Olivelli's latest Exhibition, "Way Out / Way In," invites visitors into a meditation on the human interior. Running until September 2, 2026, the show explores what enters the soul, what stays within it, and what eventually leaves. However, the experience begins before the gallery itself. On entering the main gate of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura (the Italian Cultural Institute), a visitor meets a long mural-covered wall where the colours of the Italia...

View From Arada

Jul 4 , 2026

ONE TRAFFIC LIGHT, TWO ADDIS ABEBAS

There is a street in Addis Abeba where two worlds meet for the length of a red light. A mother stood at the edge of the road, one child strapped to her back, another gripping the hem of her skirt....

Jun 27 , 2026

Banks Cannot Digitise Their Way to Trust. Humans Do.

Earlier this week, I visited a private bank's branch on Fikremariam Aba Techan St., near Megenagna, to activate mobile banking. Hoping to cut down on future trips and handle transactions from my phone...

Jun 20 , 2026

Streaming Made Cinema Solitary. Video Bet Makes It Social Again

The narrow hallway outside Video Bet's screening room had begun to fill by 6:00pm. A few early arrivals sat near the ticket office, drinking coffee or soft drinks and checking their phones. Soon, stud...

Jun 13 , 2026

Global Market Absorbs Addis Abeba's Youth Culture for Sameness

A walk into the Ambassador Mall in Arat Kilo, on Niger St., then up to the third floor, opens into a large food court where versions of Addis Abeba's urban life sit side by side. The smell of differen...

Jun 6 , 2026

Addis Abeba's Garage Sales Turn Castoffs in-to a Circular Economy

Over the weekend on May 30, I joined a garage sale as a vendor inside Polish Garage in Hayahulet, in front of Arsho Medical Laboratories, bringing along a mix of old and new clothes I wanted to clear...

May 30 , 2026

In Addis Abeba, Comedy Finds Its Voice in What Others Fear to Say

I went to the show prepared to distrust it. I had never really been to a stand-up comedy show, at least not in the way people mean when they speak of a room, a microphone, and a crowd waiting to be wo...

May 23 , 2026

Writers Step Into the Frame, Out of the Shadows

There is a particular intimacy in seeing the face of someone whose words have already lived in us. A voice first heard through pages, a grief or joke carried by language, suddenly has eyes, hands, and...

May 16 , 2026

A Generation Too Busy to Belong

Growing up, I waited for weekends with unusual excitement. A visit to my grandmother's house was not a mere visit. It was an entry into another world, loud and familiar, where laughter rose before one...

May 9 , 2026

The Wedding Before the Wedding Erodes "Shimgilina" Tradition

At a close friend's "Shimgilina", a traditional betrothal intercession, I saw how the old rules remain visibly present. They had merely moved into a modern setting, softened by decoration, food, frien...

May 2 , 2026

Art Restores Migrants Who Become Numbers

Ashenafi Mestika is an artist whose training, observations, and lived experience shape work that is technically assured and emotionally restrained. Presenting his fifth solo exhibition consisting o...

Apr 25 , 2026

Addis Abeba's Conscience Should Lay Beyond the Skylines

Addis Abeba has been drawing fresh attention as it changes. Visitors now arrive from across the world, from streamers and athletes to cultural travellers, curious about what the city has become. The r...

Apr 18 , 2026

The Slow Truth Hidden Beneath the Visible

A collaborative photography exhibition titled “Hidden Beneath Existence” opened at Atmosphere, bringing together the work of Rebeka Negatu and Helen Mulugetta. The show set up a conversation betwe...

Apr 10 , 2026

Artistic Creativity Connects the Self with the Past

An exhibition called Beneath the Roof by Eyob Kitaba, curated by Jermay Michael, unfolds as a reflective and carefully constructed exploration of urban transformation and the layered nature of materia...

Apr 4 , 2026

Music Bridges Cultures

Around Lem Hotel, near Sidra Hotel, there is a villa house tucked quietly under the name Mesob Habesha Music Center. The gate stands wide open, almost as if it has been waiting all day for guests to a...

Mar 28 , 2026

Local Talents Meet Global Styles

On March 21, the British Embassy hosted the third Creative DNA Ethiopia (CDNA) gathering in collaboration with Creative Hub and Ice Addis, bringing together designers, creatives, and fashion enthusias...

Mar 21 , 2026

Why Do Other Cultures Travel So Easily While Ethiopia Stays at Home?

I was met by an explosion of colour and sound on March 8, 2026, where I attended Holi, the festival of colours, at the Indian Embassy, off Dejazmatch Woldegabriel St., in the Aware neighbourhood. T...


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Reconstitute the Institution That Propelled Ethiopia’s Floriculture Globally

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The Fear I Learn to Let Go Of

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Ethiopia Built the Rooms. Now Fund the Startups

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What Every Parent Really Asks in Children Education

Agenda | Aug 01,2026

Tax Bills Outrun the Metre, Stalling Taxi-hailing Drivers

Editorial | Jul 31,2026

The Rains May Fail, Policy Dare Not


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The Rains May Fail, Policy Dare Not

Weldu Yiheysh has not read the Pacific temperature charts. He does not need to. In Shibta...

Editorial | Jul 31 , 2026

SMALL-NOTES SQUEEZE WORN, TORN, NEVER RETURNED

For Hirut Ayalew, a small shop owner around Ferensay Legasiyon, the shortage of usable sma...

Featured | Aug 1 , 2026 . By BIZUAYEHU ABIY

Tax Bills Outrun the Metre, Stalling Taxi-hailing Drivers

Elbeletel Tilahun was among the ride-hailing drivers startled by this year's tax assessmen...

Agenda | Aug 1 , 2026 . By BEZAWIT HULUAGER

Right-sizing Tests Addis Abeba University’s Promise for Autonomy

Addis Abeba University set out to win its institutional autonomy. Two years in, that freed...

Fortune News | Aug 1 , 2026 . By NAHOM AYELE