Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi is one of the leading African poets writing in Arabic today. Famous in his native Sudan, the vivid imagery of his searing, lyric poems create the world afresh in their yearning for transcendence.

In 2005 Saddiq’s poems were first translated into English by the Poetry Translation Centre for their first World Poets’ Tour. Since then he has received a rapturous reception from UK audiences.

In 2010 a party was organised for him at London's Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology which holds a significant collection of ancient Sudanese artefacts. As a result of the success of this event (and earlier visits to the Petrie in 2005 and 2006), he was able to work in the Petrie Museum as their poet in residence during the summer of 2012. This led to a new book of poems, He Tells Tales of Meroe: Poems for the Petrie Museum (Poetry Translation Centre/Petrie Museum, 2015), which was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award.

Born in Omdurman Khartoum in 1969, Saddiq has published four volumes of poetry, including his Collected Poems in 2010. From 2006 he was the cultural editor of Al-Sudani newspaper until he was forced into exile in 2012. He was granted asylum in the UK and now lives in London.

Arabic-English bilingual edition

Translated by: Sarah Maguire, Mark Ford