10 Sudanese & South Sudanese Short Stories for the Solstice
These 10 vivid short stories, from Sudanese and South Sudanese writers, are in honor of the Northern Hemisphere’s shortest day.
Country Focus
Sudanese Author Omayma Abdullah on the Writer’s Heart
“No writer can take the possession of his or her heart for granted; it seems be a writer’s fate that their heart is always at in the hands of others, and others’ hearts clustering around them.”
The Story of 50 Years of Algerian Crime Fiction in 60+ Books
From state crimes and political murders to family feuds and petty crime, with investigations conducted by professionals or the uninitiated, Algerian crime writers have produced some the most entertaining stories I have read — and are certainly the most vibrant in the Algerian literary corpus.
Winner of 2019 ArabLit Story Prize: ‘The Sharp Bend at Al-Bakur’
“The story suggests that the innocent dead were sacrificed for the vanity of those in power and those who seek it.”
On Gender Stereotypes in Sudanese Fiction
“Malkat Addar Mohammad’s الفراغالعريض (The Wide Void) was the first novel by a Sudanese woman that was published in Arabic. Written in the early 1950s, it was only published in 1972.”
Kamal Al-Jizouli and Sudanese Sound Poetry
“A poem brims first with a forceful downpour, followed by soft, tamed sounds, resembling Khartoum’s twin-Nile miracle where the thundering roar of the Blue Nile meets the sleepy sigh of the White.”
A Talk about Sudanese Short Stories and ‘Thirteen Months of Sunrise’
“There are many writers whose short stories I enjoy. For example, the South Sudanese writer Stella Gaitano, as well as Abdel Aziz Baraka Sakin and Mansour Suwaim. Also Mohsen Khalid—although he hasn’t written for a while.”
12 (Auto)biographical Narratives by Algerian Women
“A common and conspicuous theme across the suggested texts below is that they are either set within or draw heavily from the national struggle against French colonial rule and its lingering aftermath in Algeria.”
Literary Playlist: Rania Mamoun’s ‘Thirteen Months of Sunrise’
“It is easier to talk to animals — and to solicit their help in a time of need — than to get help from one’s fellow humans who have more than they need.”