Reem Gaafar is a Sudanese writer, physician and researcher. She writes both fiction and non-fiction, and is best known for her debut novel, A Mouthful of Salt, published in 2024. This novel won the 2023 Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa.
Gaafar was born in 1983. She grew up in New Zealand and Oman before returning to Sudan to train as a doctor. She completed her Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Juba in 2007. After working as a clinical doctor, she moved into public health. In 2012, she began a community medicine residency with the Sudan Medical Specialisation Board. Two years later, she obtained a Master's degree in Public Health from the University of Liverpool.
From 2014 onwards, Gaafar worked as a researcher and consultant for several institutions. She was affiliated with the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government in Dubai. She later held a position as a graduate research assistant at Ontario Tech University in Canada. Her consulting clients have included the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Sudan, the Sudanese Ministry of Health, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She has also worked on public health campaigns in the Middle East and North Africa.
Her academic work includes studies on the impact of the pandemic on child health and mental health policy in Sudan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a 2014 Al Jazeera article, she described Sudan’s health system as one in which “there was no space for women to have a voice”.
Alongside her medical and academic work, Gaafar pursued writing. Her fiction and essays have appeared in publications such as African Arguments, Teakisi Magazine and African Feminism. Her short story Light of the Desert was published in I Know Two Sudans (2014) and received an honourable mention.
In 2020, she was shortlisted for the Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship. Her short story 'Finding Descartes' was featured in 'Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices (2023).
In her debut novel, A Mouth Full of Salt, Gaafar explores gender and myth in a Sudanese village and the capital, Khartoum. It examines the lives of women during times of social and political upheaval.
The story opens with the drowning of a child and the ensuing crisis in the village. According to the author, the title refers to the taste left 'after a great loss'. Gaafar became the first Sudanese winner of the Island Prize.
Reem Gaafar currently resides in Canada with her husband and three sons.
Photo credit: X @GaafarReem
Gaafar was born in 1983. She grew up in New Zealand and Oman before returning to Sudan to train as a doctor. She completed her Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Juba in 2007. After working as a clinical doctor, she moved into public health. In 2012, she began a community medicine residency with the Sudan Medical Specialisation Board. Two years later, she obtained a Master's degree in Public Health from the University of Liverpool.
From 2014 onwards, Gaafar worked as a researcher and consultant for several institutions. She was affiliated with the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government in Dubai. She later held a position as a graduate research assistant at Ontario Tech University in Canada. Her consulting clients have included the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Sudan, the Sudanese Ministry of Health, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She has also worked on public health campaigns in the Middle East and North Africa.
Her academic work includes studies on the impact of the pandemic on child health and mental health policy in Sudan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a 2014 Al Jazeera article, she described Sudan’s health system as one in which “there was no space for women to have a voice”.
Alongside her medical and academic work, Gaafar pursued writing. Her fiction and essays have appeared in publications such as African Arguments, Teakisi Magazine and African Feminism. Her short story Light of the Desert was published in I Know Two Sudans (2014) and received an honourable mention.
In 2020, she was shortlisted for the Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship. Her short story 'Finding Descartes' was featured in 'Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices (2023).
In her debut novel, A Mouth Full of Salt, Gaafar explores gender and myth in a Sudanese village and the capital, Khartoum. It examines the lives of women during times of social and political upheaval.
The story opens with the drowning of a child and the ensuing crisis in the village. According to the author, the title refers to the taste left 'after a great loss'. Gaafar became the first Sudanese winner of the Island Prize.
Reem Gaafar currently resides in Canada with her husband and three sons.
Photo credit: X @GaafarReem
years of life: 1983 – present
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