Abdellatif Laâbi Morocco

ABDELLATIF LAÂBI was born in Fès in 1942. He published his first poetry collection at the age of 20. With fellow Moroccans, he founded the journal Souffles in early 1966 and the publishing house Atlantes. He also founded, along with Moroccan dissident Abraham Sefaty, the Association de Recherche Culturelle (ARC). This body was swiftly targeted by the government, and both men were arrested. Laâbi was imprisoned for various reasons, and on numerous occasions, in the 1970s. He was not freed until 18 July 1980, apparently on account of pressure from European intellectuals and because of the numerous awards he had won. He moved to France in the 1980s, where he became a permanent resident in 1995. His latest poetry collection, Ouuvre poétique II, was published by Editions La Différence, Paris, in 2010.

(2012)