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May 30 , 2026 . By Blen Hailu

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 won over. What I knew of the form came mostly from the small and sharp clips that circulate online...

May 23 , 2026 . By Blen Hailu

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 posture. That small shock of recognition gave “Vision of Words” its charge when Ethiopia's first photographic exhibition devoted to its literary community opened at Goethe-Institut on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. Curated by Feben Fancho (PhD) and organised by Asayehegn Asfaw, the Exhibition brings together portraits of 36 authors, poets, playwrights, translators, performers, screenwriters, an...

May 16 , 2026 . By Blen Hailu

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 reached the door and where people arrived as though the house belonged to everyone. Some cousins would already be there. Neighbourhood children would drift in later, one by one, until the rooms filled with voices, footsteps, and small disputes. Sleepovers did not require permission slips or planning. Someone would pull out mattresses. Another would find blankets. By night, the floor became a m...

May 9 , 2026 . By Blen Hailu

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, friends and the quiet staging now common in family celebrations. The invitation had reached beyond immediate relatives to include close friends from both families. The bride wore a carefully made "Habesha" dress, with light, natural makeup. Beside my friend stood two other friends in coordinated traditional attire, giving the gathering a visual order that felt deliberate but not excessive. A small b...

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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...

Mar 14 , 2026

It Isn't Only Online. The Webs Misogyny Comes Home

I recently attended a research presentation hosted by Addis Powerhouse, where the room was filled with feminist groups, activists, and organisers, all trying in their own ways to contribute to a safer...

Mar 7 , 2026

Artists Deserve Applause, Not Eulogy

From the moment I approached the gate of Addis House of Culture, on Yohannes St., inside the National Palace, for the grand opening of a monthly film membership club, it felt different. The air felt c...

Feb 28 , 2026

Coffee Festival Wants Parliament, UNESCO to Certify a Living Ritual

Roasting beans crackled, and smoke curled inside the Adwa Victory Memorial Museum, on Eden St., when the second festival on the traditional coffee ceremony turned the Addis Abeba landmark into a livin...

Feb 21 , 2026

Priced Out of Print, Book Market Starves on Scale, Scarcity

Domestic publishers in Addis Abeba juggle tiny budgets and hedge their bets with print runs that could fit in a studio flat. Each small batch fattens the unit cost, pushing cover prices higher and loc...

Feb 14 , 2026

With Ride-hailing Service, Even a Fragile Promise Carries Weight

A few weeks ago, what could be a familiar drama for many unfolded before me. I was late, logged my details in the taxi-hailing app, and was matched with a driver supposedly one minute away. I calle...

Feb 7 , 2026

In the Shape of a Tej Glass, a Country's Past Comes into Display

The humble "Birillé", a familiar glass flask used for Tej, a local honey beer, was elevated from a utilitarian object to a prism through which centuries of cultural, political, and social evolution w...

Jan 31 , 2026

How Developing Countries Can Make the Most of AI

Since the 2008 global financial crisis, industrial policy has crept back into respectable economic discourse, after decades of being derided as misguided interventionism, particularly for developing c...

Jan 24 , 2026

What Happens When Paid Work Disappears?

What we typically refer to as “artificial intelligence” is, in practice, a set of data-based systems (DS). These technologies are already transforming nearly every aspect of human life, giving ris...

Jan 17 , 2026

Grok Tests Whether AI Governance Means Anything

In recent weeks, Grok, the AI system developed by Elon Musk's xAI, has been generating nonconsensual and sexualised images of women and children on the social-media platform X. This has prompted inves...

Columns

Commentaries | May 30,2026

Mistaking Development Theatre for Public Trust Has a Cost

Tomorrow, millions of Ethiopians are expected to vote in the seventh national elections. A...

Editorial | May 30 , 2026

Addis Abeba Pours a New Story in Every Cup, Where Tradition Meets Global Influence

Customers settle into a carefully curated space of dark wood, black accents, muted green f...

Featured | May 31 , 2026 . By HELINA HADGU

Ethiopians to Vote Under the Shadow of a Foregone Outcome

Kassahun Follo's plan to keep an eye on the national polls set for Monday, June 1, 2026, e...

Agenda | May 31 , 2026 . By NAHOM AYELE and YEABSIRA TAYE

Voters Brave Cold Dawn as Mayor Urges for Patience

By the time the first light settled over Addis Abeba's high-altitude districts today, June...

Fortune News | Jun 1 , 2026

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

Writers Step Into the Frame, Out of the Shadows