SIBF 2025 celebrates Tayeb Salih’s enduring literary legacy

November 07, 2025 / 3:27 PM

Writers and critics affirmed that the works of Sudanese literary icon Tayeb Salih mark a defining moment in the evolution of the Arabic novel, bringing it back to its rural roots while elevating Arabic narrative to the global stage through a style that blends realism with myth and simplicity with depth.

Tayeb Salih and the revival of rural narrative

In a session titled “Tayeb Salih: A Sudanese imprint… an everlasting global influence”organisedbyKalimatGroup at the Sharjah International Book Fair 2025, critics and authorsMagzoubEdris, Mohamed Khalaf, and Adel Babiker, moderated by academic Dr Lamia Shammat, discussed Salih’s impact on modern Arabic fiction. Edris highlighted how Season of Migration to the North reconnected Arabic literature with the countryside, portraying it as a rich spiritual and cultural space. He noted that Salih’s exposure to both Arabic and English literature, alongside his passion for theatre and cinema, helped him introduce innovative techniques—such as time shifts, montage, and imagery—bridging realism and symbolism. The novel, he added, pushed Arabic literature to international recognition, earning praise from scholars like Edward Said.

A renewed critical reading of Tayeb Salih

Mohamed Khalaf described the release of a new edition of Salih’s novels—including Wedding of Zein, Season of Migration to the North, Mansi, andBandarshah—as a chance to re-examine his legacy. He noted that European universities, including Oxford, have begun studying his influence on Western readers, moving beyond the focus on Season of Migration to the North to explore his entire narrative universe, from TheDoumTree of Wad Hamid toBandarshah, which together form a cohesive fictional world.

Love at the heart of Salih’s literary universe

Adel Babiker explored the spiritual and human dimensions in Salih’s work, noting that Season of Migration to the North—named among the 100 greatest novels of all time and the best Arabic novel of the 20th century—was not his only masterpiece. Salih himself regardedBandarshahashis most personal work. Babiker also recalled his journalistic writings in the 1980s, such as hisMajallacolumn Towards a Distant Horizon, and the hybrid biographical novel Mansi, which combined memoir and fiction with striking honesty and imagination. He described Salih as a Sufi-spirited writer whose worldview was rooted in love and tolerance, seeing humanity as the ultimate essence of literature. Babiker concluded that Salih’s works remain a pure reflection of the Sudanese soul—open, humane, and timeless.