Ahmed Mejjati was born in 1936 in Casablanca. His is one of the most powerful voices in modern Moroccan poetry. Indeed, he and Mohammed Bennis are considered by many as the avantgarde poets who took the modernization of Moroccan poetry seriously, and devoted their lives to the establishment of a great modern tradition in poetry.
Mejjati’s poetry is characterized by its emphasis on pure Arabic diction and original syntactic formation. This is due to the poet’s high respect of classical Arabic, a respect that amounts to an almost spiritual kind of veneration. This is perhaps the reason why, despite his great poetic skill and mastery of Arabic, he managed to publish only one book of poetry. In fact, the reader of his poems cannot but recognize a deep feeling of awe before language.
He completed his graduate studies in Damascus, Syria, and got his M.A and Ph.D in Arabic literature from Mohammed 5th University in Rabat, Morocco, where he was also appointed professor of Arabic literature.
Mejjati won the Ibn Zaydoun Award for poetry in Madrid in 1985, and the Morocco Award in 1986. He died in 1995.
Publications
Chivalry, Publications of the national council for Arab culture, Rabat, 1987
