Reem Gaafar’s “A Mouth Full of Salt” Coming Out on 9 April

Saqi Books announces the release of the much-anticipated debut novel by prize-winning Sudanese author Reem Gaafar. A Mouth Full of Salt is set to be released on 9 April 2024.

A Mouth Full of Salt follows three women along several years in a small northern Sudanese village. It talks about a series of events that happen in the village which the villagers meet with suspicion and blame one of the women for it. The story highlights issues of racism, gender hierarchies and the need of people to find explanations no matter how outrageous rather than confront their own bigotry. A Mouth Full of Salt was inspired by a story Gaafar heard about a child who died while left in the care of his grandparents.

Gaafar is a writer, physician and filmmaker currently based in Canada. Winner of the 2023 Island Prize, she has been praised for her rich world building and charged, evocative writing. Gaafar‘s debut was lauded by judges Karen Jennings, Rachel Edwards and Hamza Koudri for its brilliance, insight and ‘profound sense of place’.

‘I often think about how oppression and injustice are collective actions in which we are complicit through our tolerance, whether we like it or not. But we also underestimate our own power to bring about change, which begins the moment we realise our role, our strength and our worth. Fiction is an important part of enacting change. I am overjoyed that A Mouth Full of Salt will be published next year.Thank you to Saqi for realising this ambition,’ said Gaafar.

Gaafar received The Island Prize for African Novels 2023 for the manuscript of her debut novel, A Mouth Full of Salt, in June 2023. She is the first Sudanese novelist to be nominated for and win the award.

‘I read the manuscript within 24 hours of receipt, and we unanimously flew this through acquisitions that week. We’re immensely proud to publish Reem’s urgent and elegant debut. Gaafar shows how political decisions inform our personal choices, transporting us to a unique time and place that is little understood. The Nile in all its complex, chaotic energy continues to beckon long after the final page,’ said Editorial Director Elizabeth Briggs.

Saqi is a leading independent publisher of trade and academic books on the Middle East and North Africa. For four decades, we have offered an independent platform for writers and artists from around the world, releasing cutting-edge, ground-breaking works including seminal works The Crusades through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf and Beyond the Veil by Fatema Mernissi. We are also proud to bring together classical works such as The Quarter by Nobel Laureate for Literature Naguib Mahfouz and contemporary authors such as RSL Fellow Leila Aboulela on our Saqi Bookshelf series; a curated list of the most dazzling writing from this kaleidoscopic region. saqibooks.com

A Mouth Full of Salt is available to preorder at saqibooks.com/books/saqi/a-mouth-full-of-salt/.

A Mouth Full of Salt (ISBN 978-0-86356-772-8, £14.99) will be available on Amazon, Waterstones, and Bookshop.org from 9 April 2024.

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