‘A dazzlingly audacious novel about a tragic period’ – Valérie Marin La Meslée, Le Point
‘A masterpiece tinged with caustic earthiness that makes you laugh until you cry’
– Jean-Paul Brighelli, Marianne
Samahani – ‘forgive me’ in Swahili – details an unforgivable period of human history, when man’s inhumanity to man took the monstrous shape of the slave trade.
Set in 19th century Zanzibar, Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin’s deeply enthralling novel explores the relationship between a spoilt, scheming, powerful Omani princess and her eunuch African slave Sundus, captured and castrated by Arab slavers.
In a sultry and sensual prose style which combines storytelling conventions of The 1001 Nights with hard, contemporary punch, Samahani depicts the agonies of the native Zanzibaris at the hands of both Europeans and Arabs – sparing neither any mercy.
Drawing on the author’s own experiences of displacement, migration and exile, Sakin (a Sudanese writer-in-exile now living between France and Austria) builds a grand narrative of barbarism and lust that is a furious cry against persecution in all its forms.
Translated by father-daughter team of Adil Babikir and Mayada Ibrahim, Samahani marks a triumphant English language debut for the 2020 Prix de la Littérature Arabe winning author and recently ordained Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters for contributions to literature in France.
About the author
Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin is one of the most prominent writers from Sudan today. He was born in Kassala, eastern Sudan, in 1963 and lived in Khashm el-Girba until he was forced into exile abroad by the Islamist regime in Khartoum. Although most of his works are banned in his home country his books are secretly traded and circulated online among Sudanese readers of all generations. Sakin’s seminal work, al-Jungo Masameer al-Ardh, which appeared in English as “The Jungo: Stakes of the Earth”, was the winner of Tayeb Salih’s Novel Award. His other novels include Maseeh Darfur (The Messiah of Darfur), al-Aashiq al-Badawi (The Bedouin Lover), and al-Khanadrees (The Khandarees).
About the translators
Mayada Ibrahim is a translator, editor, and writer based in New York, with roots in Khartoum and London. Her translations have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and published by University of Nebraska Press, Willows House, Archipelago Books, Dolce Stil Criollo, and 128 Lit. She was awarded the 2023 ALTA Travel Fellowship, participated as a judge on the PEN America Translation Award 2021, and has written reviews for Modern Poetry in Translation.
Adil Babikir is a Sudanese translator based in the UAE and is the author of The Beauty Hunters: Sudanese Bedouin Poetry, Evolution and Impact. His translations include The Jungo: Stakes of the Earth, a novel by Abdel Aziz Baraka Sakin; Mansi: A Rare Man in his Own Way, by Tayeb Salih (winner of Sheikh Hamad Translation Award, 2020); The Messiah of Darfur, also by Sakin; and Seven Strangers in Town, by Ahmad al-Malik.
About Foundry Editions
Foundry Editions was set up in 2023 out of a love of three things – a love for discovering and sharing new voices, a love for the Mediterranean and the people and lands that surround it, and a love of internationalism and reading across borders.
Foundry Editions is on a mission to uncover authors who are new to English speakers, and to share the joy of reading their stories, which come from a part of the world that has always been a source of cultural and emotional inspiration for English language readers.
If you are looking for enriching story-telling and intelligent, thought-provoking, beautiful writing, that captures something of the lives, imaginations, culture and preoccupations of people who live around the middle sea, then you will find something to love in the books published by Foundry Editions.
For review copies and all publicity enquiries, please contact:
Emily Laidlaw | Emily.Laidlaw@midaspr.co.uk
