Two Libyan authors open a window onto their worlds.

Ibrahim al-Koni, who grew up in a Tuareg community in the Libyan desert, did not learn to read and write Arabic until the age of twelve. His mother tongue is Tamasheq. The nomadic heritage, imagery, and stark experiences of the desert run through his entire body of work. Time and again, he explores fundamental questions of human existence through the lens of the Tuareg’s traditionally boundless living space – and its collision with political borders.

Mohammed Alnaas’s novel “Du pain sur la table de l’oncle Milad” (Bread on Uncle Milad’s Table) challenges traditional gender roles with sensitivity and irony, capturing the tension between social expectation and personal freedom. Milad’s father, a master baker, not only passes on his craft but also insists on shaping his son into a “proper” man. Yet when Milad marries Zeinab, he makes a radical choice: to stay at home and take care of domestic duties while she pursues her career.