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Mohammed Khalil Qasim

Mohammed Khalil Qasim (1912-1978) was an extraordinary Nubian writer and Nubian rights activist, who spent 15 years of his life in prison. He is the author of Al Shamandura (The Buoy), published in 1968 shortly before his death. The book describing the life in a Nubian village drowned in 1933 arose consciousness within the Nubian community, and encouraged many later Nubian writers.

Mohammed Khalil Qasim was born in the Nubian village of Qatah, where he spent his childhood and helped his father in agriculture, driving the waterwheel and enjoying pristine Nubian nature. After his village was flooded he started primary school in Eniba and continued his studies in Cairo where he started studying law. At the same time, he was culturally very active and attended seminars, wrote essais and his left-leaning political opinions as well as poetry, which he published in "Modern Nubia" magazine co-edited by him, until he was arrested in 1946. Wherever he went, he was appreciated for his altruistic, kind and encouraging personality.

While in prison he taught his co-prisoners writing, and wrote his famous book "Shamandoura" secretly on toilet paper that he smuggled to his friend. "Shamandoura" was first published in a magazine in weekly episodes, than printed as a book. After his release in 1963, Mohammed Khalil Qasim initiated many cultural activities at the Nubian Clubs in Cairo, held weekly literary symposiums and adopted many young writers including Mahmoud Saleh Idris, Hassan Nour and Abdul Rahman Amin Sadiq, whom he taught various writing techniques and helped them launch their own careers as writers. After a long struggle against illness contracted in prison, Mohammed Khalil Qasem died in 1968, but not before leaving an impressive cultural heritage.