Sudanese novelist Al Tayeb Salih has passed away today in London due to health complications from a kidney condition. Salih was 80 years young.
Sudan has lost a dear citizen, who has contributed tremendously to Sudanese and Arabic literature. His most acclaimed work is the 1966 novel “Season of Migration to the North.” The novel was, at one point, banned in Sudan for its inclusion of sexual imagery, yet it was declared “the most important Arabic novel of the 20th century” by the Syrian-based Arab Literary Academy in Damascus.
Earlier this year, The General Union for Sudanese Writers, requested Al Tayeb Saleh to be preliminarily nominated to win the 2009 Literature Noble Prize.
Al Tayeb Salih’s death will definitely leave a big void in the Sudanese literary world. He will be greatly missed.
The Sudanese Optimist 
Al Tayeb Salih was a great sudanese icon,many of my non-sudanese friends love his novel”season of migration to the north”.
He will truely be missed,may god have mercy on him and may our SUDAN prospor with the birth of many more of him.Ameen
AlTayib Saleh may Allah have mercy on his soul was voted one of the 100 best novelists of the past 100 years by ‘international’ and not only Arab peers.
‘Season of Migration to the North’ is a 20th-21st Century classic, way ahead of its time and taught from Germany to Lebanon.
It’s sad and unfair that AlTayib Saleh didn’t get the recognition that Naguib Mahfouz got – but underrated, unrecognised brilliance seems to be a Sudanese trait.
The least we can do is to teach ourselves and the coming generations this great Sudanese literary icon’s work.
And life goes on…
Eu–
Nobody read your comment. If it was a blog post on the other hand….
😛
SubhanAllah I just finished reading “The season…” about 4 weeks ago
May Allah swt give him the highest level of Jannah – wallah this man was an icon mashaAllah