What if books become the only refugee amid a harsh reality? How important is books to lift people's morals who are struggling to survive? Despite the conflict in Sudan, passionate readers strive to maintain their reading practice through a public library in Nyala.
Mohsen Mahmoud grew up an avid reader. Through years of turbulent war and conflict in his hometown of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur in southwestern Sudan, his favorite way to escape was through a good book. Amid the conflict raging today, he’s trying to get others to do the same.Sudan has been mired in a war since April 2023. That’s when two rival factions of its military government began squaring off for control of the country. Chaotic street battles between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a rival militia group, rocked the capital Khartoum and quickly spread throughout the country.
The ongoing war has taken an enormous toll: tens of thousands have been killed and more than 10 million Sudanese, or 20 percent of the population, have been displaced.* More than half of the country is on the brink of starvation.**
Nyala has not been spared.
Nyala is Sudan’s second largest city after Khartoum and has long been a flashpoint for ethnic tensions. It's also strategic, located along trade routes that link Khartuom to north and west Africa. It is rich with livestock, grain and ground nuts, a major cash crop.
A battle for its control started just after the war broke out. Since then, air and artillery strikes have killed scores of people, leveled homes, displaced its residents and shut down the city.
By June 2023, war had decimated most public life across Sudan. As fighting intensified for control of Nyala between the RSF and Sudan’s army, most of its public venues were shuttered, universities were closed and not a single library was accessible.
Remarkably, that’s when Mahmoud decided to pursue a longtime ambition of his, to open a public library for Nyala.
“I wanted to offer something to my city during these tough times. I thought long and hard and found that encouraging people to read books and novels to escape the oppressive reality around them was the best thing I could offer,” said 35-year-old Mahmoud.
Nyala's library. | © Ahmed Eissa Moussa
With no more than a few plastic chairs and straw mats, Mahmoud set up a library, a rare haven that hosts cultural events and debates in Nyala, Sudan's second largest city. | © Ahmed Eissa Moussa
With no more than a few plastic chairs and straw mats, Mahmoud set up a library, a rare haven that hosts cultural events and debates in Nyala, Sudan's second largest city. | © Ahmed Eissa Moussa
Books too have been a victim of Sudan’s war. Caught in the crossfire, thousands of books have been burned. Other books soak up rainwater from blown apart facilities that once kept them safe. If you walk the streets of Nyala, you can see paperbacks repurposed as fuel for warmth in chilly nights or to cook with, and others stained with blood.
"The war destroyed so much, said Mahmoud. “Rare books and manuscripts have been burned, and obtaining new books is not as easy as it used to be,” said Mahmoud.
And so Mahmoud launched Knowledge Library, a simple public reading space with a growing collection of literature to help Sudanese escape the trials of war through reading, and help preserve what he can of the reading and written culture.
The space itself is modest: inside, there are two wooden tables to study at, a few plastic chairs scattered around, a few mats to lounge on, and a few locally-made items for decoration. To make it more inviting, Mohsen added a few drawings. It’s meant to be an oasis for art and culture amid the chaos.
The library started with just 30 books. But within a few months the shelves swelled to 1000 – they include titles in Arabic and English on everything from world literature and philosophy to engineering and how to learn English. Books of cultural and historical significance, like “Darfur’s Heritage Encyclopedia” by Solaiman Yehia Mohamed, and “Al Endaya”, written by the revered Sudanese author al-Tayeb Mohamed al-Tayeb and the academic “Darfur, the Black Storm”, by researcher Ahmed Abusada, are among the carefully-stacked books in this humble library. The absence of digital copies for some of these books make their surviving print versions a priceless offering.
On Saturdays, the library doubles as a forum for cultural events. It has received as many as 100 visitors per day.
Nyala was once a vibrant center of culture. Before the war, it was not uncommon to find literary forums and cultural activities to which Sudanese authors flocked. Libraries like the Nyala’s Central Library, Abdelkadeem and Al-Quds libraries were teeming with readers. But all of that has been shut by the war.
“This place is a gift from God to us,” said one library patron, “If this library didn't exist, things would have been a lot worse. It’s our only refuge in these suffocating circumstances.”
For Mahmoud, the library project goes back years. It started after he read a book about teaching displaced children. “I don’t remember the title though,” said Mahmoud. Just one of the many he’s breezed through over the years.
When war broke out, the idea took on new urgency.
“People were preoccupied with news of war and destruction,” said Mahmoud. “Others were just wasting their free time doing things of no value.” Mahmoud wanted to offer them something better, a refuge to “discover new characters and countries and fill their minds with things that could make a difference in their lives,” he said.
In October of last year, the RSF took control of Nyala.
These days, the library gets about 20 visitors a day. Many have left because of war or are too tired by it all to come out. But Mahmoud sees the project as just the beginning.
“We will try to make the impossible possible and restore the charm and brilliance of libraries. With the establishment of this library, I can say that we have begun,” said Mahmoud.
This piece was published in collaboration with Egab.
* As of 26th October 2025, a total of 13.9 million people have been displaced from Sudan, according to UNHCR Sudan.
** As of 26th October 2025, WFP indicates that 24.6 million in Sudan suffer from acute hunger, and 2 million are facing or at the risk of famine.
November 2024