Tayeb Salih
12 July 1929 – 18 February 2009
Tayeb Salih (1929–2009) was a Sudanese novelist and broadcaster whose 1966 novel Season of Migration to the North is widely regarded as one of the most important Arabic novels of the twentieth century. Educated in Khartoum and London, he spent most of his working life abroad with the BBC Arabic Service, the Qatari Ministry of Information and UNESCO, and died in London in 2009.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Tayeb Salih.
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) Overlapped 80 years →
- Carlos Fuentes (1928–2012) Overlapped 80 years →
- Charles Aznavour (1924–2018) Overlapped 80 years →
- Chen-Ning Yang (1922–2025) Overlapped 80 years →
- David Attenborough (1926–present) Overlapped 80 years →
- E. O. Wilson (1929–2021) Overlapped 80 years →
Life events
Born in the village of Karmakol near al-Dabbah on the Nile in the Northern Province of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgStudied science at Gordon Memorial College, later the University of Khartoum, before leaving to work as a teacher.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgRelocated to Britain and joined the BBC Arabic Service, where he eventually became head of drama.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe novella Urs al-Zayn, set in a Sudanese village, was published in Beirut and later adapted into a film.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMawsim al-hijra ila al-shamal first appeared in the Beirut journal Hiwar and was later named by the Arab Literary Academy in Damascus the most important Arabic novel of the twentieth century.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgServed briefly as director-general of the Sudanese Ministry of Information before returning abroad.
Moved to Doha to serve as director-general of information for the Qatari government.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgSpent the last decade of his career with UNESCO, including as its representative in the Gulf states.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgDied in London at the age of 79 and was buried in Omdurman, Sudan.
Source: en.wikipedia.org