Lit & Found: ‘Sudanese Novels Through Time’
Over at Kotobli, they have posted a new list; this time, of Sudanese novels through time. The list was curated by Sudanese-American writer Razan Idris.
Sudan
New Short Fiction: Alhassan Bakri’s ‘Field Marshal Trapped in a Bathroom’
When the field marshal heard the roar coming through the north-facing window of the spacious restroom, he was taken aback.
New Short Fiction from Sudan: ‘A Bunch of Losers’
By Alhassan Bakri Translated by Nassir al-Sayeid al-Nour We were all naughty and talkative as kids, except Idris: he was extremely quiet. He mastered an incredible range of abilities, including […]
New Short Fiction by Salah H. Ahmed: ‘Chicken Stew’
“The truth is, we didn’t taste it, because the tray came back with nothing on it except the bones—even the sauce had vanished. Your father swore he took onlytwo bites while Sheikh al-Raddi finished the rest. May it give him stomach pain.”
New Fiction from Sudan: Ahmed Abu Hazim’s ‘Fragments of Obsessions & Suspicions ‘
His face was hidden by his bent head, with its enormous turban, as he busied himself with the food in front of him. His hand went up and down between his mouth and the dishes like an old crane.
New Short Fiction from Sudan: ‘Nameless,’ by Mohammed Hamad Mahmoud
“On joining primary school, I started leaving sufficient space for my non-existent name at the right margin of the page, followed by my father’s full name, who died and immortalized his name through me. I did the same in my English notebooks, at the left side of the page. I was the third person in all languages and descriptions in the universe.”
Remembering Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, an Avant Garde Pioneer of Sudanese Poetry
“Were they a bundle of arugula,
displayed for sale to the westerners in the big city,
they’d have been spared the scorching heat.
Instead, they’d have been carefully placed on a wet matt in the shade,
their lips kept wet with sprinkled water
their cheeks sparkling with freshness and moisture.”
A Translator’s Canon of Sudanese Literature
For our focus on Sudan, scholar, translator, and writer Adil Babikir highlights a few of Sudan’s most important literary greats.
Writers Select: New and Inventive Voices in Sudanese Literature
If you were to choose 4-7 titles that would represent, to you, the most interesting books (perhaps experimental, challenging, or influential in some way) written by Sudanese writers in the last 10 years, what would they be? And (perhaps more importantly) why?