[2] Gebregeorgis grew up in the town of Negele Borana, about 12 hours from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
[1] His mother could not read, and his father could only decipher a few words, but he was committed to providing his son with an education.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Yohannes Gebregeorgis was politically active and joined the resistance against the ruling military dictatorship of Ethiopia, the Derg.
[1] When he found none, he took it upon himself to write the book Silly Mammo, a traditional Ethiopian folktale, in an Amharic and English translation.
[1] He also connected with Jane Kurtz, a children’s author, who had lived much of her childhood in Ethiopia, and she helped him publish Silly Mammo.