News

I went to check out the Casablanca book fair yesterday–the fee for getting in is an extremely reasonable 5 dirhams and there’s tons to see and do. Among the exhibitors were publishers from many Arab and European countries, but also Moroccan university presses, literary magazines, small and large publishers, and–oh, joy!–booksellers and bouquinistes. So one could browse through the rare or used books from, say, Rabat’s Bouquiniste du Chellah here in Casablanca. The most popular booths seemed to be those that catered to children’s literature and YA, which I suppose is a good thing. Maybe in a few years’ time the fair will be able to attract as many interested adults. I noticed a couple of English-language publishers, but they carried mostly classics that are used at colleges and universities. The French publishers and the Saudi government, on the other hand, had a massive presence. Unfortunately, the official program that is available online is not comprehensive. There’s a lot more to see at individual booths, and you pretty much have to go in situ to know what each exhibitor has planned.

The Casablanca Book Fair opens today at the Foire Internationale, with 615 exhibitors from 58 countries. The guest of honor this year is Belgium, and there are many round tables and panels on Belgian literature or by Belgian authors. In addition, of course, there will be readings and/or discussions by many Moroccan poets, writers, historians, and journalists, including Abdelkrim Ghallab, Abdellah Laroui, Fatema Mernissi, Abdellah Taia, Mohammed Barrada, Ghita El Khayat, Aboubakr Jamai, and many others. Among the highlights of the ten-day fair is a reading by Adonis at the Mohammed VI Theatre in Roches Noires on Saturday night, and another reading by Mahmoud Darwich at the same venue. Be there.

You can see the full cultural program of the fair here.

My friend Cliff has been raving about Elif Shafak’s The Bastard of Istanbul. “It’s one of the best books I’ve read in years,” he told me. And then in a separate note to a reading group we belong to he called it “an excellent book.” The novel, already a major bestseller in Turkey, just came out in the United States this month. Shafak was due to travel to several cities in the U.S. in support of the novel, but in the wake of Hrant Dink’s murder, she cut her tour down to just one appearance in New York, during which she was also interviewed by Terri Gross for NPR. Of the secular nationalists who attacked her and others, Shafak says:

This group is one of many voices in Turkey. They do not represent the majority of the voices in society, and frankly my opinion is they are targeting intellectuals and writers precisely because they want to stop the E.U. process. They have made it very clear that they are against Turkey’s E.U. membership, and they would like to see the country as a more insular place, a more xenophobic nation-state, a closed society. That’s what they would like to see happening.

You can listen to the interview here.

>A discussion is taking place this week over at the Lit Blog Co-Op about Ngugi’s latest novel, his first in many years: Wizard of the Crow. I’ve mentioned this book before, and I am thrilled to see it make the LBC’s Winter Read This! selection. Check it out.

A brief opinion piece I wrote about freedom of speech in Morocco appeared in Saturday’s New York Times. Its starting point is the lawsuit that was brought against the magazine Nichane (which I’ve mentioned previously on this blog) and the denouement of the case involving Aboubakr Jamai and his magazine Le Journal Hebdo (also mentioned briefly here). Here is an excerpt:

In the United States, Morocco is often seen as a liberal country and a bulwark against Islamic extremism. Certainly, the reforms that have taken place over the last few years, particularly in terms of women’s rights, are steps in the right direction.

But while the court cases against independent news magazines like Nichane, Le Journal Hebdomadaire and several others are within the bounds of Moroccan law, they appear to single out the independent press, to the exclusion of more partisan publications. These cases highlight a particularly troubling pattern, in which the regime represses the progressive voices it claims to champion

You can read the full text of the op-ed at the NYT site.