He became known in Sudan and other Arabic-speaking countries for his colloquial poetry and his public engagement, both committed to further the causes of democracy, freedom, general well-being and national identity.

[1] Mahjoub Sharif was born in a rural setting to a family of petty traders and spent his childhood in Omdurman, while visiting a primary school in the town Arab.

[3] Mahjoub Sharif's poetry is characterized by a combination of colloquial, picturesque, playful, but also forcefully engaged language that has earned him the name ‘people’s poet’[4] and mixes "observations on everyday life and politics with love songs and poems for children".

As police, let the ants infiltrate and build the security state Ask the raindrops to write their reports, Buffoon...[6] His poetic language therefore also lent itself to express views beyond governments’ official discourses, for example during the separation of northern and South Sudan, which was marked by polarized hostility.

Mary I will miss you I am shedding tears Yet we are citizens by our marks In drawing we are neighbours The trees have passed[7] For the Rift Valley Institute fellow Magdi El Gizouli, this usage of his language went so far that his "extraordinary capacity to imagine another future in feather-light lines, suitable even for the playful entertainment of children" was made "part of the politically erotic repertoire of opposition congregation whenever opportunity allowed".

[8] The frequent imprisonment of Mahjoub Sharif under Gaafar Nimeiri and then under Omar al-Bashir caught the attention of Amnesty International[9] and later Africa Watch/Human Rights Watch.

[11] Especially Amnesty International has maintained an active interest in the case for more than two decades, spanning from a first report in 1980, over a 1990 campaign to send cards to him in prison, of which he received about 2,000, to a thank you event organized by Mahjoub Sharif in London in August 2008, when he sent letters back to the available addresses.

[12] Since 2004, Mahjoub Sharif had been suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which resulted from the damage caused by the time spent in prison and was further complicated by diabetes type 2.