OROMAY

Oromay was published in Ethiopia in the summer of 1983, became an instant sensation, and is today generally considered the most famous Ethiopian novel.

While the romantic and thriller elements drew a large readership, its unflinching portrayal of the regime and its missteps was unprecedented in the highly censored literature under the Derg. (While accounts vary, it seems that Girma's top position in the government got it past the censors relatively unscathed.) Within days of its publication, the regime realized that Girma had gone rogue. They immediately fired him, banned Oromay, and sent soldiers into bookstores and markets to confiscate copies. Six months later, on February 14, 1984, Baalu Girma vanished under suspicious circumstances. His fate continues to be the subject of intense speculation and investigation, but no definitive evidence has emerged. However, the consensus (including that of PEN International) is that he was kidnapped and murdered by the regime in retaliation for Oromay. The regime was itself overthrown in 1991, in part due to the efforts of the insurgency that the Red Star Campaign failed to subdue. Girma certainly knew that he was risking his life by publishing Oromay, and it is partly for his courage in renouncing the hated Derg that he and the novel hold such an honored place in Ethiopian cultural history. Originally written in Amharic, OROMAY achieved cult status in Ethiopia immediately after publication in 1983 and likely cost its author, a celebrated journalist and novelist by that point, his life: Girma disappeared without a trace in 1984 and was almost certainly murdered by the socialist regime of the Derg then in power in Ethiopia. Reading OROMAY, one understands why: it's a clear-sighted condemnation of the Red Terror unleashed on the country by the Derg, focusing on a campaign to "pacify" what is now Eritrea. It's also a great work of literature, a biting satire, a political thriller, and a doomed love story all rolled into one.