81 pages • 2 hours read
Season of Migration to the North
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1966
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Introduction
Season of Migration to the North
- Genre: Fiction; literary
- Originally Published: 1966
- Reading Level/Interest: College/Adult
- Structure/Length: 10 chapters; approx. 169 pages
- Protagonist/Central Conflict: The unnamed narrator of this story returns to his village in Sudan after years of study in Europe. When he meets enigmatic Mustafa Sa’eed, he is drawn into a conflict between Europe and Africa, men and women, and tradition and innovation, the likes of which he might not survive.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Sexual assault; colonialism; violence against women; murder; misogyny; racism; suicide; female/male genital mutilation/circumcision
Tayeb Salih, Author
- Bio: 1929-2009; Sudanese writer, journalist for BBC Arabic, and staff member for UNESCO; graduate of the University of Khartoum and University of London; Season of Migration to the North is considered one of the most important novels in Arabic literature; draws inspiration from his youth in Sudan; a group of his friends honored him with $20,000 in 1998, which he used to establish the Tayeb Salih Creative Writing Award; has two other writing awards named in his honor: the al-Tayeb Salih Prize for Literary Creativity and the al-Tayeb Salih Award for Creative Writing
- Other Works: The Wedding of Zein and Other Stories (1968); Bandarshah (1996)
- Awards: Arab Literary Academy’s Best Novel in Arabic of the Twentieth Century (1966)
