Boujema El Aoufi was born in 1961 in Taza, Morocco. He is a poet, translator, and art critic. He began writing and publishing poems and articles in 1986. His early writings drew a lot on visionary and mythological material, but he later tried to depart from this tendency, and assume a “new poetry” posture characterized mainly by a concern with ordinary language, and everyday life.
El Aoufi is one of the essential voices in modern Moroccan poetry. He is not only a skillful poet and critic, but also an active and organic intellectual with a charismatic touch about him. He excels in organizing and managing poetry events, and is thus one of the most up-to-date knowledgeable people about literary life in modern-day Morocco. In 2001 he received the Shariqa award for Arab creative writing, offered by the ministry of culture and communication in UAE.
El Aoufi is a member of both the Union of Moroccan Writers, and the House of Poetry in Morocco. He published two books of poetry, Bayadat Shayiqa, Shariqa 2001, and Asdiqa’Yughadiruna Hunjurati, Rabat 2001.
