However, Libya at this time developed its own literary tradition, centred on oral poetry, much of which expressed the suffering brought about by the Italian colonial period.
Italian policy of the time was to suppress indigenous Libyan cultural aspirations - therefore quelling any publications showing local literary influence.
While beginning as Italian propaganda, the magazine included work by Wahbi al-Bouri, considered the father of Libyan short stories.
Libyan poet Khaled Mattawa remarks: Many of Aesop's fables have been classified as part of the 'Libyan tales' genre in literary tradition although some scholars argue that the term "Libya" was used to describe works of Non-Egyptian territories in ancient Greece.
[3][4] With the withdraw of European forces, a period of optimism was born ushered in by the return of educated Libyans who had lived in exile in Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon.
Among the 1950s generation were famed writers Kamel Maghur, Ahmed Fagih, and Bashir Hashimi who all wrote with a sense of optimism reflecting the spirit of independence Libyan literature began to bloom in the late 1960s, with the writings of Sadeq al-Neihum, Khalifa al-Fakhri, Kamel Maghur (prose), Muhammad al-Shaltami and Ali al-Regeie (poetry).
This period also simultaneously began to cast Americans (with their oil companies) and Jews (because of Israel's foundation in 1948) as outsiders as well as occasionally in the positive light of facilitators.
A special recognition was the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) in 2022 for Mohammed Na’as’s novel, Bread on Uncle Milad’s Table.
"[6] Émigré writers have also contributed significantly to Libyan literature, and include Ibrahim Al-Kouni, Ahmad Al-Faqih and Sadeq al-Neihum.