Abdellatif Laâbi
Abdellatif Laâbi is one of the most prolific and critically acclaimed contemporary writers from North Africa. Laâbi was born in 1942 in Fez, Morocco, under the French Protectorate. A decade after Morocco gained independence from France, Laâbi founded the renowned literary magazine Souffles, a socio- political journal that merged Moroccan creative energies in a linguistic and artistic revolution that spread throughout the Maghreb. The journal was eventually banned due to its insurgent nature, and Laâbi was imprisoned and tortured for his political beliefs and his writings. Much of his work is influenced by his time in prison and the exile he was forced into upon his release.
