Sudanese Poet, Artist Mohamed Bahnas Dies Homeless in Cairo

Numerous news outlets (Shorouk, Youm7, Veto) are reporting that multitalented Mohamed Hussein Bahnas — guitarist, singer, artist, poet, and novelist — died of hunger and exposure on out Cairo’s streets:

The 42-year-old artist apparently came to Cairo two years ago to stage an exhibition and remained, performing his songs and poetry in various locations around Cairo, but wasn’t able to afford permanent shelter.

His death was first mourned on the blog Still Sudan. According to Still Sudan:

Born in Omdurman in 1972, Bahnas found refuge in artistic expression from an early age. The profession he sought most though was life itself. He chased it in the ‘araki’ quarters of Khartoum, the mosques of Omdurman, the conversations of the tired intellectuals of the capital, the glare of Paris and Berlin, in the company of friends and the faces of strangers.

Bahnas was the author of one novel, Rachel, and numerous poems.