I had a burning desire for my books to be written in my native languages (Amharic and Arabic). After all, I’m a product of places where I was born and grew up. People from back home would be able to relate to, be inspired by, and learn something from my story. Due to the extensive education I received in English and having lived more than half of my life in North America, I found myself no longer able to tell my own story in my first languages. The search for Arabic and Amharic language writers was necessitated.

I met Solomon through a mutual friend named Abera Lamma, a well-known writer and poet in Ethiopia. I learned Solomon was trained as a medical doctor. He had also earned a master’s degree in natural and social sciences. As I dug up more, I discovered he spoke French, Italian, Greek, and Hebrew on top of English. Moreover, for the first time in about fifty years, I ran into a person who had actually studied Geʽez!

Arguably, he is one of the best authors, with the combined skills and experience of translating eighteen books from English to Amharic. I was curious as to how he ended up a writer and why in the world a medical professional would want to write.

Despite his being in Ethiopia and the ten-hour time difference, we agreed to talk and see where things went. He listened to me carefully. His silence on the phone made me wonder if my awkward Amharic, with plenty of English sentences, could have confused him. I was wrong! He was simply listening and absorbing what I was explaining to him. He asked for a draft of the manuscript before committing to anything.

In subsequent conversations, I found many parallels between the two of us: he had been born at the same hospital I was born in; he lived in the same neighborhood I had lived in; and as a child, he played soccer with his friends on the same soccer field I did. He was imprisoned for his involvement with the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP) as I was. He told me the story is no longer mine only, but that of the two of us. He took the initiative to speak to my relatives and other parties who contributed to my early childhood in Ethiopia. There was little I needed to explain to him. Rather, I gave him the freedom to acquire more information to complete the manuscript. In the end, he has become a character in the book.

Solomon was born, grew up in, and is still living in Addis Ababa, which exactly what my story needed. He is the face of Addis Ababa!