WRITER

Tayeb Salih

1929 - 2009

Photo of Tayeb Salih

Icon of person Tayeb Salih

Tayeb Salih (Arabic: الطيب صالح, romanized: aṭ-Ṭayyib Ṣāliḥ; 12 July 1929 – 18 February 2009) was a Sudanese writer, novelist, cultural journalist for the BBC Arabic programme as well as for Arabic journals, and a staff member of UNESCO. He is best known for his novel Season of Migration to the North, considered to be one of the most important novels in Sudanese Arabic literature. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Tayeb Salih has received more than 263,550 page views. His biography is available in 27 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 25 in 2019). Tayeb Salih is the 2,635th most popular writer (up from 2,637th in 2019), the 12th most popular biography from Sudan (up from 14th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular Sudanese Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 260k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 54.02

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 27

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.82

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.07

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Bandarchâh
1985
Bandarshah
Literary Criticism
A man visits a Sudanese village, decides to stay and becomes its spiritual leader. A study of the power of religion and a look at the message of the Koran.
1996
Season of migration to the north
1970
Saison de la migration vers le nord
1999
The Wedding of Zein and Other Sudanese Stories
Arab countries
This book contains three Sudanese stories by Denys Johnson-Davies.
19915 / 5
Mawsim al-hijrah ilá al-shamāl
Man-woman relationships, Fiction, Modern fiction
1969
African Short Stories
Short stories, African (English), African literature, Short stories, african
1985
Tayeb Salih speaks
Interviews
1982
Nationalism, Islam and World Literature
Islam in literature, Nationalism in literature, Arabic literature, history and criticism
2006
Bandar Shāh
Near and far eastern fiction (fictional works by one author)
This long-awaited new book by the acclaimed Sudanese author Tayeb Salih is an evocative masterpiece. Consisting of two volumes originally entitled Dau al-Beit and Meryoud, it tells the story of a green-eyed stranger who, wounded and hungry, appears on the banks of the river near the village of Wad Hamid, this work recounts the life of a man who cannot remember his name, race, nor religion, and speaks a language no one understands. The villagers take him in, teach him the Koran, and give him a name, Dau al-Beit. Restored to strength, Dau al-Beit transforms the lives of the people who cared for him, invigorating them with his ideas and enriching them with the merchandise he trades and the crops he harvests. Marrying a village girl, he remains in Wad Hamid for five years until he is lost to the river he came from. His son is later given the nickname Bandarshah. The continuing narrative revolves around the part-mythical figure of Bandarshah, his eleven sons, and his grandson Meryoud. As readers, we become the amazed spectators of village politics, initiation ceremonies, weddings, floggings and burials - scenes peopled with a cast of genies, devils, and houris - and encounter the mysticism of the Arab world described in a prose so absorbing and fascinating that we want to return to read it again and again.
1996
ʻUrs al-Zayn wa-sabʻ qiṣaṣ
Arabic Short stories, Fiction, Short stories, Arabic
1968

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Tayeb Salih ranks 2,635 out of 7,302. Before him are Józef Czapski, Matthias Claudius, Hella Haasse, Tian Han, Eric Carle, and Censorinus. After him are Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Rahman Baba, Asadi Tusi, Richard Bandler, Mary Astell, and Duris of Samos.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1929, Tayeb Salih ranks 185. Before him are Ronnie Biggs, Joe Pass, Peter Yates, Darío Castrillón Hoyos, Karl Koller, and Eric Carle. After him are Anna Walentynowicz, Edison Denisov, Christoph von Dohnányi, James McDivitt, Hind Rostom, and Jamshid bin Abdullah of Zanzibar. Among people deceased in 2009, Tayeb Salih ranks 120. Before him are Janet Jagan, Konstantin Feoktistov, Vyacheslav Ivankov, Karl Koller, Friaça, and Pierre Harmel. After him are Ken Annakin, Alda Merini, Zbigniew Religa, Béla Király, Eric Woolfson, and Rosanna Schiaffino.

Others Born in 1929

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Others Deceased in 2009

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In Sudan

Among people born in Sudan, Tayeb Salih ranks 12 out of 38. Before him are Josephine Bakhita (1868), John Garang (1945), Gaafar Nimeiry (1930), Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (1960), Abdallahi ibn Muhammad (1846), and Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab (1934). After him are Ibrahim Abboud (1900), Manute Bol (1962), Ismail al-Azhari (1901), Hassan Al-Turabi (1932), Abdalla Hamdok (1956), and Mahmoud Mohammed Taha (1909).

Others born in Sudan

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Among WRITERS In Sudan

Among writers born in Sudan, Tayeb Salih ranks 2. Before him are Luqman (-1100).

Sudanese born Writers

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