Haile Bizen
- Eritrea, Norway, -
Haile Bizen (b. 1966) is a poet, editor, translator and journalist from Asmara, Eritrea. He has studied psychology, worked as a journalist and editor, and published several collections of poems and short stories in Eritrea. After the publication of the book Behind the Doors in 2009, he was forced to flee his home country, and came to Norway as a freelance writer in 2011. In Norway, Bizen's texts have been published in several anthologies, then under the name Haile Bizen Abraha. La oss si at jeg er (Aschehoug, 2023) is Bizen's first poetry collection in Norway, worked on in parallel in Tigrinya and Norwegian. The poems in the collection center on fleeing and living in exile, about the many ways of being human in different cultures. Haile Bizen writes with a humble empathy and a warm sensuality that balances the heavy and the light in a distinctive way.
Haile Bizen -- voice of hope and despair
Abraham. T. Zere*
Arguably one of the finest contemporary poets in Tigrinya language—a language with rich poetry tradition spoken in Eritrea and Ethiopia—Haile Bizen is considered as one of the trend setters in poetry writing in Eritrea. In a writing career that spans for more than four decades, Bizen has been sailing comfortably in a territory he has charted himself. Yet he has been producing work improve and refine his style of writing both in form, style and delivery.
In his later work, which were published after he left his home country and resettled in Norway, he solidified his stature as national poet in his home country and added another dimension—voice of an exiled writer with enduring prospect for return and the adjusting in a new environment. In doing so, he beautifully captures the hyphenated life of hope and despair.
Bizen’s poems of exile, while reminiscing Kafkaesque’s reality at his native country, describe a state of infinite winter in his second home—a haunting reality readers would tear the pages escape from.
One of the distinctive traits of Bizen’s work is his language craft and his rich vocabularies. His poetry writing might not have what poetry critics describe as “Nerudian transparency,” but especially in his later works he seamlessly explore the language using his artisan quality.
Bizen’s poetry extensively uses first-person narratives, which helps him instantly connect with readers. Having mastery of the language and choosing themes that would resonate with many, enables him to have control of his work. His books of poetry, read as personal stories and yet collective voices of exile.
The books deal with interconnected subjects such as exile, home, reminiscence, and the poet’s new home--Norway-- and the transnational space. The poet recurrently uses known figures or historical anecdotes to appeal the attention of readers but quickly departs from the that and links it with bigger context.
Bizen’s work narrates the personal, national, and transnational subject(s). Yet, his personal eventually becomes the national and further transnational. In his poems, using his mother, his family and friends back in Eritrea, he remarkably demonstrated the voice of a solitude poet, longing for return, and adjusting at his new home.
*Abraham T. Zere is Eritrea-American writer/journalist who is currently serving as a chief editor of Tigrinya language program at Voice of America (VOA).
Poetry
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Apparitions / ጐፍታ ምስለይ
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My Secret Tree / ዕበየለይ ዝብሎ ገረብ
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Ironing Shorts / ምስትራር ስረ
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In Front of the Camera / ቕድሚ ካሜራ
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Dancing in the Desert / ትልሂት ሰሃራ
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Here I Leave my Skull for You / መኣዝን ሰሃራ
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Our Recent Family Picture / ሓድሽ ስእሊ ስድራይ
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The Scream / ጽምዲ ኡእታ
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Insect / ሓሸራ
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Farewell Mother / ስንብታ ኣደ
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A Portrait of an Immigrant / ስእሊ ስደተኛ
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Norwegian Translations / Norske oversettelser
