The Chicago Tribune recently wrote a piece on Fassil Yirgu, 58-year-old owner of Chicago-based Nyala Publishing who brought us brilliantly weaved Texture of Dreams by author Fasil Yitbarek. In an earlier review we found Yitbarek’s first novel a must read.
Chicago Tribune’s piece highlights the publisher’s visionary goals. The article is partly reproduced below.
We congratulate Ato Fassil Yirgu and wish him luck in his publishing endeavors. His contributions to Ethiopian and African literature are immeasurable.
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Ethiopian publisher is looking for simple, noble, human stories
By Patrick T. Reardon
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 7, 2006
Yosef Temesgen likes doing the laundry. A recent arrival to New York City from Ethiopia, Yosef is the narrator of Fasil Yitbarek's novel "The Texture of Dreams." He is in the basement of his building, sitting before a washer -- a machine he had never used back in Addis Ababa -- watching his clothing dance through the soapy water.
"There is something calming about it . . . ," he tells the reader. "Something I find soothing about gazing at the tortured whirl of a soggy bundle of dirty laundry tossing this way and that in the watertight belly of the white metal box."
Yosef is a fictional character, but many of his experiences during the eight-year period covered by Yitbarek's novel are common to the vast majority of immigrants to the U.S., such as difficulty communicating in American English, amazement at the huge portions in restaurants and confusion over where his home is.
That's why Fassil Yirgu, 58, owner of the Chicago-based Nyala Publishing (www.nyalapublishing.com), decided to publish the book last year -- that and the fact that, in its calm, diffident way, "The Texture of Dreams" is a sprightly read, equally thoughtful, witty and tender.
Read the entire Tribune article here.
