'Where are the libraries?' The literary radical fighting Sudan's crackdowns

As writers’ unions and book markets are banned by the government, the poet and journalist Mamoun Eltlib is fighting to preserve the city’s literary scene, writes Alia Gilbert

“I believe that words can cause material change inside your mind, inside your body, inside your soul. Words were the beginning of the whole world.”

So says Mamoun Eltlib, leaning back in his chair and breaking into a smile. Sitting on his sunny balcony overlooking the bustling streets of his native Khartoum, the poet, journalist and self-described cultural activist takes an uncharacteristic pause.

He said to me ‘OK, which writer do you love?’ I said Dostoyevsky, even though I’d never read anything by him in my life

I believe that it’s a very old relationship – the one you have with your language

Related: 'I write to expel my fear' - storytelling in the Sudans