what is Sudanese literature?

One writer jumps to the foreground, Tayeb Salih. But the history of the Sudanese literature is of course much more complicated and has deep roots in precolonial times. In fact, it would be more appropriate to speak about various Sudanese literatures, even before (and independently) of the political secession of North and South Sudan. There is Arab-speaking literature (where Tayeb Salih distinguished himself, but there are also other authors, such as Tarek al-Tayyeb, Amir Tag el-Sir), as well as English-speaking literature (with Leila Aboulela, Jamal Mahjoub). Also local languages have their own literary history, especially Beja (famous for the specificity of its poetry) and Dinka (Makwei Mabioor Deng).

I have read

Daoud Hari, The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur (2009)
Tayeb Salih, Mawsim al-Hijra ilash-Shamal
Tayeb Salih, ​Urs al-Zayn

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I have written

... nothing ...

the translator

Darfur of the Zaghawa tribesmen and international journalists. On the brink of life and death. The hero, that Daoud of many names, or Suleyman, has a gun put to his temple before page 20 of the book. He feels the warmth of the metal. The British journalist whom he guides across the desert manages right then to call the rebel chief he had interviewed shortly before. The translator is spared. Till the next occasion.
The book is a confession, arguably an oral one, and Daoud tries to explain his life as clearly as he can. Yet endless irruptions of memories constantly spoil the order. So the reader navigates through those violent waves of reminiscences of a man for whom an Israeli prison seemed better than many a hotel where he had stayed. 



Daoud Hari, The translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur, London, Penguin, 2009.

Kraków, October 7th, 2022.