Salah Ahmed Ibrahim (; December 1933 – May 1993), was a
Sudanese literary writer,
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
and
diplomat
A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...
. He is considered one of the most important Sudanese poets of the first generation after the
country's independence, marking the transition from literary
romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
to
social realism
Social realism is work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers, filmmakers and some musicians that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures ...
.
Life and political activity
Born in
Omdurman
Omdurman () is a major city in Sudan. It is the second most populous city in the country, located in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the capital city of Khartoum. The city acts ...
, Ibrahim graduated from the
University of Khartoum
The University of Khartoum (U of K) () is a public university located in Khartoum, Sudan. It is the largest and oldest university in Sudan. UofK was founded as Gordon Memorial College in 1902 and established in 1956 when Sudan gained independen ...
,
Faculty of Arts
A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...
, and, from 1965 to 1966, taught at the Institute of African Studies at the
University of Ghana
The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It is the oldest public university in the country.
The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the British colony of the Gold Coast ...
. He maintained an involvement in politics and was eventually appointed Sudanese
Ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
to
Algeria
Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
.
His sister
Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim was a leading parliamentarian and a campaigner for women's rights.
[Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim](_blank)
MoralHeroes, Retrieved 30 September 2016 He died in May 1993 in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, France.
Literary works
In a literary study about Sudanese poetry, Salah Ibrahim was described as "the most important Sudanese poet of his generation", as "in his poetry, there is all the yearning, all the frustration of his generation. He writes his poetry with miraculous ease and beauty." Ibrahim was also noted for his
socialist realist fiction, of which he was a notable proponent.
In an article published in May 2022, translator and editor of the compilation ''Modern Sudanese Poetry: an Anthology'',
Adil Babikir characterized the poetry of Salah Ahmed Ibrahim "as a mirror of major turbulences in his country and in Africa more generally". Further, Ibrahim was called "an outspoken campaigner against oppression and injustice and a strong voice in support of human rights and national aspirations". In the same article, Babikir published excerpts of Ibrahim's poems dealing with questions of identity, racism and political suppression in English translation.
Selected works
*''Gha'bat El-Abanois'', Arabic غابة الأبنوس or Ebony Forest, poetry collection.
*''Gha'dbat El-Haba'y'', Arabic غضبة الهبباى or Rage of El-Heba'y, poetry collection.
See also
*
Sudanese literature
Sudanese literature consists of both oral as well as written works of fiction and nonfiction that were created during the cultural history of today's Republic of the Sudan. This includes the territory of what was once Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, th ...
*
List of Sudanese writers
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
References
Externa
links
Remembering Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, an Avant Garde Pioneer of Sudanese Poetry article for Arablit.org by Adil Babikir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibrahim, Salah Ahmed
1933 births
1993 deaths
20th-century Sudanese poets
Ambassadors of Sudan to Algeria
People from Omdurman
University of Khartoum alumni
Academic staff of the University of Ghana
20th-century Sudanese artists