Casablanca International Bookfair Highlights

The International Book and Trade Fair (SIEL) will be held from the 10th to 19th of February at the Casablanca International Fair. This year the fair is celebrating the eleven countries of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS)

While it is a great opportunity to cruise the shelves for new reading material - but there are some special sessions not to be missed.

El Maleh

The year SIEL celebrates the centenary of the birth of the intellectual and fervent militant, Edmond Amran El Maleh. El Maleh was born into a Jewish family from Safi and moved to Paris in 1965, working there as a journalist and a teacher of philosophy.

He began writing in 1980, at the age of 63, traveling back and forth between France and Morocco. He stated that, in spite of his long stay in France, he had devoted his entire literary life to Morocco. From 1999 until his death he lived in Rabat. He was buried, according to his wishes, in the Jewish cemetery in Essaouira.

An interesting discussion of El Maleh and his writing will feature guests, Royal Advisor André Azoulay, writer and poet Hassan Nejmi, and Myriem Khrouz, deputy secretary general of the Edmond Amran El Maleh Foundation. The discussion will take place February 10th at the hall Edmond Amran El Maleh Hall at 5pm.

On February 11 at the France stand at 11 am,  journalists Houdaifa Hicham and Mohamed Samouni present Radicalisation: An evil with many faces, an investigative book on the different facets of the burning issue of radicalisation in Morocco. From Islamic education textbooks to the recent ban on the manufacture and sale of the burqa through to Daech supporting Moroccans.

Also on February 11 at 14.30 at the French stand, author and journalist Kenza Sefrioui outlines the Kingdom's reading problems in "Le livre à l'épreuve" on understanding the existential problems related to reading and books in Morocco.

ECCAS: culture in the postcolonial era. How do the creators of Central Africa think of the relationship to the self and to the other? This is the idea that will be discussed by Suzana Micue Obama Eyang and Estanislao Medina Huesca, from Equatorial Guinea. February 12 at the Ibn Battuta room from 6:30 pm

Tales: Latina style - this is the topic on February 14th at the Spanish stand at 10:30. This is an opportunity to listen to Beatriz Montero, writer and interpreter of children's stories talking about the secrets of the art of telling stories.  This should be fun!

Beatriz Montero

On February 16 at the Ibn Battuta room from 12:30 Amazigh (Berber) poetry: Hassan Aourid. The former historian of the kingdom Hassan Aourid engaged in "What says Reed / May day ttini uyannin " a collection of 93 poems written in Amazigh and translated into French. He discusses the period before his visit to the Royal College (he studied with Mohammed VI), his origins, his loves and his wounds.

Hassan Aourid

Magazine Souffles: poets and readings - On February 18 at the Africa hall from 18:30. This reading session of the emblematic cultural magazine Souffles will be organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Foundation Abdellatif Laâbi. The texts will be read by the poets Mostafa Nissabouri, Abdellatif Laâbi and artist Touda Bouanani, among others.

Tribute to Gonzalo Rojas: 100 years after. February 18th at the Edmond Amran El Maleh room from 6pm.. Al fondo de todo duerme a caballo  is a documentary about one of the greatest Chilean poets, Gonzalo Rojas, who died in  2011.

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