Saqi Books scoops 'searing' debut novel from Gaafar

Saqi Books has scooped the "searing" debut novel from Reem Gaafar, A Mouth Full of Salt.

Editorial director Elizabeth Briggs acquired world rights directly from the author. The novel will be published in spring 2024. 

A Mouth Full of Salt is based in rural northern Sudan and follows three women in a village beside the River Nile who are affected by the disappearance of a young boy.

The publisher continued: "Their lives unwind in parallel stories from the banks of the Nile, the base of the mountains and the capital city Khartoum, uncovering a century of colonial legacy." 

Gaafar won the Island Prize 2023 for A Mouth Full of Salt. She commented: "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." 

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