Sudanese literature

The oldest existing records of the precursors of a distinctive Sudanese literature can be dated to about 300 BCE and were written in the Meroitic script. These historical records, such as inscriptions on sandstone, bear testimony of the kings of Kush or deities of the Kushite culture in northern Sudan.[2] During the Christianization of Nubia in the sixth century CE, the Kushite language and cursive script were replaced by Byzantine Greek, Coptic, and Old Nubian languages, with texts relating both to religion, to public affairs or to private life. From the fourteenth century onwards, Arabic gradually became the primary language in Nubia and, with the spread of Islam, developed into the main written and spoken language for religious and secular affairs in most other parts of Sudan.[3]

A rare historical record written in the early 19th century by Shaykh Ahmad ibn al-Hajj Abi Ali (b. 1784-5) and other early Sudanese historians are the Arabic manuscripts called The Funj Chronicle. These manuscripts, preserved in several versions by different authors, present a history of the Funj sultanate (1504-1821) and its capital at Sennar, on the Blue Nile, and of the Turco-Egyptian regime that succeeded it. The manuscripts were edited as an annotated translation under the title "The Sudan of the Three Niles" in 1999 by British historian Peter M. Holt. In her review of this edition, historian Heather J. Sharkey wrote: "Along with the Tabaqat of Wad Dayf Allah (a biographical dictionary of Sudanese Muslim holy men compiled in the late eighteenth century), the Funj Chronicle is the most important Arabic source for the northern riverain Sudan in the Funj era, a period when Islam was spreading widely."[4]

Literature in contemporary Sudan is either recited orally or written in the Arabic language, with certain types also in local languages, such as poetry in the Fur language of western Sudan.[5] As in other African countries, both written literature and genres of oral tradition, such as folk tales, proverbs or poems, are common, but depend on their social setting, such as in rural, partly illiterate or in urban educated societies. These oral types of storytelling may be simply recited by individuals or by groups of persons, or they may be accompanied by singing and musical accompaniments, thus transgressing the theoretical definition of literature and music.[6]

"Long before the novel and short story became known as literary genres, Sudanese literature existed in the form of oral stories and narrative poems, most of which, until recently, were transmitted from one generation to the next.", as literary critic Eiman El-Nour put it in his seminal paper The Development of Contemporary Literature in Sudan.[7][8]

Among the living oral traditions, there are the Ahaji folk tales and the Madih, or religious praise tales. The first kind generally have a mythological and often local character. According to literary critic Eiman El-Nour, "they invariably have happy endings and are full of fanciful scenes and superstitions that describe the magic powers of genies and ogres." Madih, the other kind of poetry is typically recited by a singer and chorus, and has a religious character, praising the prophet Muhammad or revered religious leaders.[7]

Sudanese poet Mahjoub Sharif

From the beginning of modern written literature, and going back to age-old oral traditions, poetry and songs have been the most popular genres in Sudan. Before independence, poems and the lyrics of songs were expressions of nationalism and other political issues.[9] Khalil Farah (1892-1932) was an important poet, and his patriotic verses have been used in popular songs like "Azza fī Hawāk" (My beloved Azza).[10] was .[11] Poetry and songs continue to occupy a prominent role in Sudanese culture. Songs celebrating the beauty of the land, its regions and scenery have been very popular in modern music since at least the 1930s. During modern times of political oppression, these forms of oral literature have been expressions of resistance towards the rulers of the day, and have led to the imprisonment or exile of poets like Mahjoub Sharif (1948 - 2014)[12] or musicians like Mohammed Wardi (1932 - 2012).[13]

A traditional form of oral poetry are the songs of praise or ridicule by female singers of Western Sudan, called Hakamat. These are women of high social standing, respected for their eloquence, intuition and decisiveness, who may both incite or vilify the men of their tribe, when engaged in feuds with other tribes.[14] The social impact of these Hakamat can be exceptionally strong. Because of this, they have recently been invited by peacebuilding initiatives in Darfur in order to exert their influence for conflict resolution or other social issues, like environmental protection.[15]

In the 21st century, contemporary forms of oral literature in urban settings as an expression of identity, political resistance or visions of the future include the forms of spoken word poetry, political slogans, rap, or hip hop music that preceded and accompanied the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19.[16][17]

According to literary scholar Constance E. Berkley, "Sudanese Arabic literature has links with all Arabic literature, both past and present. At the same time, it is valid in its own right. Among the Sudanese, as among other African and/or Arabic speaking people, poetry is the preferred literary form."[18] On the further issue of writing in Arabic with a distinct Sudanese character, the Sudanese poet and critic Mohammed Abdul-Hayy writes: "Muhammad Ahmed Mahgoub was one of the leading literary spokesmen who (...) expressed the idea of a Sudanese literature 'written in Arabic, but infused with the idiom of our land, because this (idiom) is what distinguishes a literature of one nation from another.'"[19]

Although there were several newspapers published in Sudan around the beginning of the 20th century, like Jaridat al-Sudan, a biweekly paper published in Arabic and English first printed in 1903, arguably the most important newspaper in terms of impact on modern Sudanese literature was Al-Ra'id (The Pioneer). This newspaper, published in Arabic, started in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, in 1914 and presented a variety of poetry and other literary forms. Its first editor was the well-known poet and journalist Abdul Raheem Glailati. In 1917, the British authorities deported him to Cairo because of his article criticising the poor living conditions of Sudanese. Despite this, he later could publish a collection of revolutionary, nationalist poetry in 1924.[20] In 1934, the literary journal Al Fajr (The Dawn) was founded and became known for publishing the first Sudanese short stories.[9]

Another important factor for the development of written literature in Sudan was the spread of modern educational institutions, like the Gordon Memorial College in Khartoum and other non-religious schools in major cities like Omdurman or Wad Madani. Before this development, the only books available for education were those written in Arabic. Schooling in the English language also provided Sudanese intellectuals with access to English literature, translations from other Western languages and to non-fictional publications on world-wide issues.[21]

Apart from poetry, the most prominent literary genre in Sudan is the short story. This form of writing started in the 1920s and was largely influenced by Arabic short stories in Egyptian newspapers.[22] Since the period preceding the independence of Sudan in 1956, short stories and novels have dealt with political and social issues, as well as with the question of the country's complex cultural identity. This central theme of what it means to be Sudanese is marked in more or lesser degrees by both African roots as well as by Arabic cultural influences.[23] It also gave the name to a group of writers of the 1960s, comprising Al-Nur Osman Abkar, Mohammed Abdul-Hayy, Ali El-Makk or Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, called The Forest and Sahara school, where forest stands for the rainforests of the South and sahara for the deserts of Northern Sudan.[24]

A Sudanese journalist and renowned poet in the Arabic literary world was Muhammad al-Fayturi (1936–2015), whose extensive poetic work "particularly draws upon his experience as an African living among Arabs, and thus addresses issues such as race, class and colonialism."[25]

In line with social and political developments in other countries at the time, stories, novels and poems dealing with social realist themes, like the conflicts between social classes were also written in Sudan.[26] These were spurred on by Sudanese academics, who were returning home from studying in Egypt or in European countries. Literary critic Eiman El-Nour states that a novel by the title of "Al-Faragh al-'arid" (The vast emptiness or The wide hollowness) was the first "true example" of this type. Published in 1970, after the death of its author Malkat Ed-Dar Mohamed, the work reportedly caused quite a stir, having been written both by a woman and dealing with themes of social reality.[27][28]

Sudanese writer Tayeb Salih

Arguably the most notable Sudanese writer is Tayeb Salih (1929 – 2009), who wrote both novels and short stories. His most famous work, translated as Season of Migration to the North and published in 1966, deals with the coming of age of a student returning to Sudan from England. The novel was banned in the author's native Sudan for a period of time, because of its sexual imagery, but today it is readily available.[29] It became famous among Arabic readers across the region, was included in Banipal magazine's list of the 100 Best Arabic Novels,[30] and has been translated into more than twenty languages.[31]

According to the editor and translator of The Book of Khartoum,[32] Max Shmookler, Sudanese literature of the late 20th century is characterized by an "association between estrangement (ghurba) and the West (al-gharb)" that "has run deep in Sudanese society and literature."[33] This cultural contrast between a largely conservative society, even in the urban centres, and the growing influence of a globalized world, is reflected in the choice of characters and plots of many contemporary authors. Examples for this contrast and estrangement can be found in Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North, but also in stories about human tragedy, like the pandemic in Amir Taj al-Sir's novel Ebola 76 or in the short story Isolation[34] by one of the youngest authors, Sabah Sanhouri.[33]

Here we find the tension between Sudanese society as it is and how it might have been and could, perhaps, still become. This is the tension between the present state of conflict — over resources, political power, and identity — and the nostalgia for a more harmonious past, or perhaps the aspiration for a different type of future.

— Max Shmookler, Biting their Mother-Tongue: Three Sudanese Short-Stories about Estrangement

Other recurrent themes are the "undeniable and long history of conflict and political turbulence",[35] caused by authoritarian governments, for example in the political poems of Mahjoub Sharif, violent clashes between militias and impoverished human beings in Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin's novels or discrimination and violence against women, told by female authors like Rania Mamoun or Stella Gaitano. Among contemporary Sudanese poets Mahjoub Sharif is remembered for his poems "for freedom, full with music, witty, agitating, but always didactic."[36] As literary critic Magdi El Gizouli wrote in his obituary for Sharif: "A school teacher by training, this secular prophet spoke truth to power in a creative language that readily transformed into powerful memes, and as a consequence landed him habitually in the detention cells of Sudan’s military rulers."[36]

Political discrimination has also affected the Sudanese Writers Union, which was founded in 1985 in order to promote freedom of expression and to bring together writers of different cultural groups. It was dissolved by the military government of Omar al-Bashir in 1989 and could only be revived from 2006 onwards.[37] After ten years of activities in the general context of suppression of free expression, it was closed down again in 2015, but upon a court ruling in 2016, the Union managed to resume its activities.[38]

The list of Sudanese literary authors with works translated into English comprises both established as well as recent male and female writers:

Bushra Elfadil, (born 1952), a former lecturer of Russian literature at the University of Khartoum, and now living in exile in Saudi Arabia,[39] won the prestigious Caine Prize in 2017 with "The Story of the Girl Whose Birds Flew Away". This short story has been called "a mix of classical traditions as well as the vernacular contexts of its location" and was first published in The Book of Khartoum.[40]

Born in Cairo of Sudanese parents in 1959, Tarek Eltayeb has been living in Vienna, Austria, since 1984. In addition to seven books in Arabic, he has published his poetry, novels and short stories in German translation.[41] His novel Cities Without Palms tells the story of a young man from Sudan, who first migrated to Egypt and then further on to Europe.[42]

Another Sudanese writer of international recognition is Amir Taj al-Sir, born in 1960. He has published more than a dozen books, including poetry and nonfiction. His first novel Karmakul came out in 1988, and his novel The Hunter of the Chrysalises was shortlisted for the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction,[43] mentored by the Booker Prize Foundation in London.[44]

Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin (born 1963) has written several popular novels and collections of short stories, including al-Jango,[45] which deals with the conditions in a women's prison and won the Al-Tayeb Salih Award for Creative Writing.[46] His books were initially sold in local bookstores, but later confiscated and banned by the Sudanese authorities and were subsequently only available outside of Sudan.[47] His novel The Messiah of Darfur, which takes place in the context of the civil war in Darfur,[48] was translated into French in 2016. Since 2012, Baraka Sakin has lived in exile in Austria and has been invited to a number of literary festivals in France and Germany.[49]

Mansour El Souwaim, (born 1970), has released two novels and two collections of short stories. His second novel, entitled Memoirs of the Wicked, received the Tayeb Salih Award for Creative Writing in 2005.

Hamed al-Nazir (born 1975), a Sudanese journalist and novelist living in Qatar, has published three acclaimed novels.[50] Two of them, The Waterman's Prophecy and The Black Peacock were longlisted for the prestigious International Prize for Arabic Fiction.

Hammour Ziada, (born 1979), has published several volumes of fiction in Arabic, and is best known for his second novel Shawq al-darwīsh (The Longing of the Dervish), which won the Naguib Mahfouz Prize in 2014 and was also nominated for the 2015 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. This novel and several of his stories have appeared in English translation, including in the anthology The Book of Khartoum (Comma Press, 2016) as well as in Banipal magazine.[51]

Stella Gaitano, born in Khartoum of parents from southern Sudan in 1979, has published both short stories and a novel in Arabic that have been translated into English. She grew up and studied in Khartoum, and writes stories often dealing with the harsh living conditions of people from southern Sudan, who have endured discrimination and military dictatorship, or war and displacement in the northern part of Sudan.[52]

Rania Mamoun (born 1979) is another contemporary female writer, who has written novels and short stories, translated as Thirteen Months of Sunrise.[53] Several of her stories have appeared in English translation, including in The Book of Khartoum, Banthology[54] and in Banipal literary magazine.[55]

Sabah Sanhouri (born 1990), is a cultural essayist and literary author from Khartoum, who writes prose as well as poetry. Her story "Isolation" won the Al-Tayeb Salih Award for Creative Writing in 2009 and was published both in Arabic, and later in a French and English translation.[56] Mirrors, her first collection of short stories, came out in Egypt and Sudan in 2014,[57] and in 2019, she published her first novel, entitled Paradise.[58]

In an article about Sudanese female novelists, Sawad Hussain,[59] who has translated several novels from Arabic to English, discusses the difficulties of literature by Sudanese female authors, like Amna al-Fadl,[60] Ann El Safi,[61] Rania Mamoun, Sara Al-Jack,[62] or Zeinab Belail,[63] to be translated and published in English. In the same article, Sawad Hussain mentions a bibliography of the Sudanese novel by Nabil Ghali that lists 476 novels published in Arabic in Sudan from 1948 to 2015, and 314 of them between 2000 and 2015.[64]

Modern literature for children and young adults has been written, among others, by authors and illustrators such as Abdel-Ghani Karamallah[65] and Salah El-Mur.[66] Also, the poet Mahmoud Sharif[67] published a collection of short stories for children entitled Zeinab and the Mango Tree.

In the 1950s and 60s, the Ministry of Education published comics magazines such as Al-Sabyan (Boy's Journal), Maryud and Sabah (Morning),[68] and in the 21st century, Sudanese comic strips and graphic storytelling are enjoying a growing audience, mainly being published on social media, but also in the form of magazines or during national comic competitions.[69] As political cartoonist living in the Sudanese diaspora, Khalid Albaih has become known for his social and political caricatures in Arab and international online media.

The earliest records of a writer from Sudan are the memoir and other literary works of Selim Aga, born around 1826 in Taqali, a historical state in the Nuba Hills, in modern-day central Sudan. As a young boy, he had been sold as slave to various owners and was eventually brought to Scotland in 1836. There, he was raised and educated as a free man by the family of Robert Thurburn, at the time British consul in Alexandria. In 1846, he published his autobiographical Incidents Connected with the Life of Selim Aga, written in "faultless idiomatic English".[70]

Taban Lo Liyong, who was born in southern Sudan in 1939 and studied in the 1960s in the United States, is one of Africa's well-known poets, writers of fiction and literary criticism. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Liyong wrote highly imaginative short narratives, such as Fixions (1969), and unorthodox free verse,( ...) His nonfiction output consists of argumentative and amusing personal essays and bold literary criticism (...), presenting challenging new ideas in an original manner."[71] After teaching positions in several countries, including Sudan, he became professor of English at the University of Juba.

Sudanese writer Leila Aboulela

Leila Aboulela, who was born in 1964 in Cairo, Egypt, to an Egyptian mother and a Sudanese father, and grew up in Khartoum, is a Sudanese writer who lives in Great Britain and writes in English. Her poems, short stories and novels have received international acclaim.[72]

Jamal Mahjoub, who was born in London in 1966 of British and Sudanese parents and grew up in Khartoum, writes in English and has published a trilogy taking place in Sudan. His novel A Line in the River (2019) recounts the years from the military coup of 1989 up to the separation of the North and South Sudan in 2001. In an article about literature in Sudan, written just about as the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19 came to its final stage, he gave the following assessment of the limitations for writers, publishers and readers:[53]

The last 30 years have been difficult for Sudanese artists of all kinds – among them musicians and painters, but particularly writers. The 1989 coup triggered an exodus. People left to settle in Cairo and the Gulf, North America and Europe, even Japan and Australia. Inside the country, a new generation of writers has since grown up in the shadow of repression. Despite these difficulties writers have continued to work and publish, both within the country and abroad. In a climate where newspapers are regularly censored, journalists detained and print runs seized, books have remained cherished items to be passed around with reverence.

— Jamal Mahjoub, Top 10 books about Sudan. The Guardian, May 2019

A representative of young writers of Sudanese origin, living in the worldwide Sudanese diaspora, is Safia Elhillo (born 1990), a Sudanese-American poet known for her written and spoken poetry. Her poems have appeared in several publications, including Poetry, Callaloo, and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-day series, and in anthologies, such as The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop and Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism. Her collection of poetry The January Children (2017) refers to the children born in Sudan under British occupation, whose birth date was often indiscriminately recorded as January 1.[73][74]

Emtithal Mahmoud, who was born in Darfur in 1992, moved with her parents to the United States as a child. She became known as a spoken word poet and activist for refugees. In 2015, she won the Individual World Poetry Slam championship and has since published her first collections of poems in English, entitled Sisters' Entrance.[75][76]

Daoud Hari, who was born as a tribesman in the Darfur region of Western Sudan, wrote an autobiographical memoir in English about life and people in Darfur, entitled The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur. Through his story, he tried to bring further international attention to the plight of his people and country.[77]

Yassmin Abdel-Magied (born 1991), a Sudanese-Australian media presenter and writer, first became known for her outspoken engagement in community work and Australian media, including talks and blogs about her multicultural identity as a young Muslim woman in Australia. In 2016, she published her memoir called Yassmin's Story,[78] and in 2019 a novel for young adults, entitled You Must Be Layla.[79]

Rituals and theatre-like performances, such as the zār rituals, have been described by modern studies as part of ancient and traditional civilisations in Sudan.[80] During the 1930s, Ibrahim al-Abadi (1894 -1980) created a play about an important Sudanese resistance fighter against the Turkish army, El Mek Nimr, and Khaled Abu Al-Rous wrote a play about a village love story called Tajouj.[81] Along with other Sudanese or foreign plays, they were produced at the National Theatre of the time.[82]

In a period of flourishing cultural life in Sudan from the 1960s and up to the restrictions of many public activities by the Public Order Laws since 1989, foreign and Sudanese theatre plays in the modern sense enjoyed a certain amount of popularity in Khartoum.[83] Nevertheless, the College of Music and Drama of the Sudan University of Science and Technology has been offering studies and degrees since 1977,[84] and together with the Sudanese Dramatists Union has organized theatre festivals and workshops at the National Theatre, opened in 1959 in Omdurman.[85]

An outstanding Sudanese scholar and literary critic with a long list of publications on poetry or other genres from Sudan and in Arabic in general, was Abdalla Eltayeb (1921 – 2003). His primary field of study was the Arabic language and its creative use in poetry. One of his most notable works is A Guide to Understanding Arabic Poetry, a massive opus written over thirty-five years. Eltayeb was also president of Khartoum's Arab Language League and a member of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo. Through his works of fiction and radio programmes on literature, he contributed to a wider appreciation of literature for people without access to written sources.[86]

Another notable scholar on language and culture in Sudan was Awn Alsharif Qasim (1933 – 2006). Among many other works, he authored the Sudanese Encyclopedia of Tribes and Genealogies, a pioneer, state of the art series of books about the different Sudanese tribes, their roots and origins.[87]

Several departments of the University of Khartoum, like the Faculty of Arts, the Institute of Asian and African Studies or of Islamic Studies, publish academic scholarship relating to the history and present of culture in Sudan.[88]

After the 2009 collection of short stories in French translation, Nouvelles du Soudan, several anthologies in English, such as I Know Two Sudans: An Anthology of Creative Writing from Sudan and South Sudan,[89] The Book of Khartoum,[32] Literary Sudans: An Anthology of Literature from Sudan and South Sudan[90] or Modern Sudanese Poetry: An Anthology[91] have made contemporary literature from Sudan and South Sudan accessible to readers in translation. In addition, Banipal literary magazine published a special issue in 2016 on Sudanese literature today.[92]

Apart from those names already mentioned above, writers featured in these compilations are Mohammad Jamil Ahmad, Najla Osman Eltom, Emad Blake, Nur al-Huda Mohammed Nur al-Huda, Ahmed Al Malik, Dan Lukudu, Agnes Ponilako, Kenyi A. Spencer, Mamoun Eltilb and others.

The list of Sudanese writers of nonfiction, as another important form of narrative writing, includes authors like Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im[93] or Sadiq al-Mahdi,[94] known for their contributions to such topics as Islamic thought, politics or social issues in Sudan. Addressing Sudanese readers, these are mainly published in Arabic, with some publications presenting essays, academic scholarship, interviews or other journalistic texts also in English.

One of the Sudanese online magazines, focussing on Sudanese culture and the close relationships of life in Sudan and South Sudan, as well as with other East African neighbours, is Andariya Magazine.[95][96]

• African literature
• Arabic literature
• Modern Arabic literature
• List of Sudanese writers
• Culture of Sudan
• Culture of South Sudan - Literature
• Music of Sudan

• Al-Malik, A., Gaetano, S., Adam, H., Baraka, S. A., Karamallah, A., Mamoun, R., & Luffin, X. (2009). Nouvelles du Soudan. Paris: Magellan & Cie. (in French) ISBN 9782350741604
• Babikir, Adil (ed.) (2019). Modern Sudanese Poetry: An Anthology. Lincoln, NE, USA. ISBN 978-1-4962-1563-5
• Cormack, Ralph and Shmookler, Max (eds.) (2016) The Book of Khartoum. A City in Short Fiction. ISBN 9781905583720
• Elhillo, Safia. The January Children. University of Nebraska Press, 2017
• Lynx Qualey, Marcia. Sudanese Literature: North and South. 2012, on arablit.org
• Lynx Qualey, Marcia. 10 Sudanese & South Sudanese Short Stories for the Solstice, 2019, on arablit.org
• Magid, Djamela et al. (eds.), I Know Two Sudans: An Anthology of Creative Writing from Sudan and South Sudan, 2014 ISBN 978-0993110801
• Mahjoub, Jamal. Top 10 books about Sudan. The Guardian, May 2019
• Mahjoub, Jamal. Navigation of a Rainmaker (1989), Wings of Dust (1994), In the Hour of Signs (1996)
• Shringarpure, Bhakti et al. (2016) Literary Sudans: An Anthology of Literature from Sudan and South Sudan. Trenton: The Red Sea Press, ISBN 978-1569024348