Tahar Ben Jelloun

Tahar Ben Jelloun (Arabic: الطاهر بنجلون‎) (born in Fes, Morocco, 1 December 1944) is a Moroccan poet and writer. Professor at Tetouan and then in Casablanca. He has lived and worked in France since 1971. Ben Jelloun studied philosophy in Rabat and psychology in Paris. He attends to lectures in social psychology and works as psychotherapist. He writes in French although his first language is Arabic. He writes for diverse reviews and in particular... more

Tahar Ben Jelloun (Arabic: الطاهر بنجلون‎) (born in Fes, Morocco, 1 December 1944) is a Moroccan poet and writer. Professor at Tetouan and then in Casablanca. He has lived and worked in France since 1971. Ben Jelloun studied philosophy in Rabat and psychology in Paris. He attends to lectures in social psychology and works as psychotherapist. He writes in French although his first language is Arabic. He writes for diverse reviews and in particular for Le Monde. His novel La Nuit Sacrée won the Prix Goncourt in 1987. In 2004 he was awarded the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for This Blinding Absence of Light (translated from the French by Linda Coverdale). In September 2006, Tahar Ben Jelloun was awarded a special prize for "peace and friendship between people" at Lazio between Europe and the Mediterranean Festival. On 1 February 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy awarded him the Cross of Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur. Ben Jelloun is married and father of 4 children. He lives in... less