Event 47 Friday 12 March 4.45pmAl Baraha 3The death of both Mahmoud Darwish and, within a few months, his good friend Tayeb Salih was an enormous double loss to Arabic literature. Last year the Festival paid tribute to Mahmoud Darwish, this year we celebrate the life and work of Sudan’s greatest writer, Tayeb Salih.
A giant among writers – and yet a modest, charming man  – Tayeb’s great power as a writer and thinker was to challenge the reader with contradiction upon contradiction, juxtaposition against juxtaposition. He gave free rein to the most fundamental of philosophical concepts, that of opposites, letting his readers see the world through unending streams of differences and similarities, forcing them to think and feel emotion – to be revolted one moment and to applaud the next, to smile one moment and to be perplexed the next. His novel Season of Migration to the North was named the most important 20th century Arab novel by the Arab Literary Academy in Damascus and translated into more than 30 languages, including into English by his good friend and pioneer translator, Denys Johnson-Davies.
Our panel comprises Denys Johnson-Davies who has, in his own words, ‘translated practically every word written by Tayeb Salih’;  Leila Aboulela, the highly-regarded Sudanese novelist and winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing; and Bahaa Taher, the renowned Egyptian novelist and winner of the inaugural ‘Arabic Booker’ Prize who spent time in Africa in the ‘70s. They have come together to share personal reminiscences and discuss the influence Tayeb Salih had on Arab and world literature. Chairing this event will be Margaret Obank, publisher and editor of Banipal.

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Permalink: Remembering Tayeb Salih (1929-2009): Leila Aboulela, Bahaa Taher, Denys Johnson-Davies