Rebecca Fisseha is an Ethiopian-Canadian writer. Her first novel Daughters of Silence (Goose Lane Editions, 2019), was among Quill & Quire magazine’s Breakout Debuts of 2019, and Margaret Atwood’s selections for the gritLIT Festival Spotlight Series. Her short stories, personal essays, and articles appear in Selamta, Room Magazine, The Maple Tree Literary Supplement, The Rusty Toque, Joyland, Flock Magazine, The Puritan’s Town Crier, Lithub, Medium, The Minola Review, The Humber Literary Review, and in Tongues: On Longing and Belonging through Language, an anthology of creative nonfiction essays (Book*hug Press), and the story collection Addis Ababa Noir (Akashic Books). Her play wise.woman (2009) was produced by b current at the Theatre Centre in Toronto.
Rebecca has served on the juries for the 2021 Writers’ Trust Atwood-Gibson Fiction Prize, the 2022 Trillium Book Award, and as a reader for the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize. In 2024, she was a recipient of the CHANEL Women Creators’ Grant and the Renee Perlmutter Memorial Fellowship for Literary Adaptation, as part of the TIFF Writers’ Studio.
Born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as well as Austria and Switzerland, Rebecca lives in Toronto, where she is working on the screenplay adaptation of Daughters of Silence with Gobez Media.
Her second novel, Only Because It’s You (Doubleday Canada, May 2025) is now available for pre-order!
Represented by Marilyn Biderman of the Transatlantic Agency.
Contact: marilyn@transatlanticagency.com
Rebecca gratefully acknowledges the support of the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts, and her readers!
*Photo credit: Tom Lai
rebeccafisseha.com 
rebs,
thank you for sharing your “transcontinental” experiences. i heart your writing in all forms.
christine
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Christiiine! Long time! Thank you!
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Loving your words. Look forward to reading more! Big love. X
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Thanks, lady, both for visiting My e-Shoe Box and the *Like*. Loving “diaspora”
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I’m a fan 🙂 my heart leaps every time I encounter someone writing about life in the diaspora.
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Me too! I feel that there is not nearly enough of it out there. You and I are pioneers my friend 🙂 Thank you so much for visiting and for all the encouragement. I look forward to your next post.
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how did u find me?
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through VONA newsletter
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You went to VONA?! Cool!
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no i applied. haven’t gotten a verdict yet
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For this summer? Good luck! I haven’t been in three years but it’s an experience of a lifetime.
My mother lived in Ethiopia for a while so I have a soft spot in my heart for it. She keeps promising we’ll go visit one day.
Let me know how it turns out. Have a good weekend.
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