Kassahun Checole, publisher and founder of the renowned Africa World Press and the Red Sea Press, has been named the winner of PEN Eritrea’s Freedom of Expression Award 2023. According to a press release from PEN, Checole was selected from a long list of contestants, by an awards committee featuring Habtom Weldeyowhaness, Yonatan Tsighe, and poet Yirgalem Fisseha.
The award comes as the tireless publisher is working to complete several manuscripts, including “Passing of the Giants of the Human Spirit” by Rev. Herbert Daughtry. Since 1983, Checole has amassed over 3,500 titles by thousands of authors in over 20 languages.
Raised in Eritrea, he has been a relentless advocate for the political liberation of the country and has been at the forefront of several organizations and institutions, as the release noted: “He was one of the organizers of the January 2000 African Languages and Literatures conference held in Asmara, rightly named ‘Against All Odds.’ He was also one of those who toiled for the political liberation of post-independence Eritrea— the G-13, a group of Eritrean academics and professionals— signatories of the ‘Berlin Manifesto,’ in which they stated their grave concerns about the overall deteriorating situations and demanded genuine reforms in Eritrea. The Berlin Manifesto was a forerunner of the G-15, a group in Eritrea that opposed the policy of President Isaias Afwerki, his postponing of elections, and his failure to implement the constitution.”
In an email, Checole said, “I feel honored by this award. For the last 50 years, I have devoted a significant portion of my life’s work to advocacy for freedom from want, injustice, and the colonial and imperial order that is the root of it all in the context of African people’s conditions and lives.
“The award is from colleagues and friends, who speak the same language of resistance and continue to struggle for people’s rights,” he added. “I am at home with such activists and appreciate their recognition of my small part in it.”