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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Al-Tayyib Salih dies in London

BBC online has this short notice of the death of Sudanese novelist and broadcaster Al-Tayyib Salih, author of -- among other works -- Season of Migration to the North, declared "the most important Arabic novel of the 20th Century" in 2001 by the Damascus-based Arab Literary Academy. France24 notes that
Published in the late 1960s, "Season of Migration to the North" was banned by Sudan's Islamist regime in the 1990s because of its descriptions of a Sudanese intellectual's sexual experiences in Britain.
South Africa's Mail and Guardian adds that today's announcement was made by Salih's friend Ezzat el-Kamhawy, editor of the Egyptian literary publication Akhbar al-Adab.

__Updated__
Longer tribute from the BBC.

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