Welcome to Moroccan poetry - June 2003
The present issue is an homage to Moroccan poetry written in English. Few people indeed know that there is such a category of Moroccan poetry, and the reason is the historical legacy which, due to the French colonial period, attributes to Morocco a certain Francophone identity.
However, after the introduction of English studies in Morocco as early as the sixties, there has been a growing interest in English literature at graduate and post-graduate levels, which gave birth to a generation of writers who use English as their means of literary communication.
Because of socio-cultural factors which govern literary production and readership in Morocco, Moroccan poetry written in English has but very recently started to forge a space on the national literary scene. Two leading pioneers are to be evoked in this respect: Mohammed Abu-Talib, and Hassan Mekouar. Both are also known as leading academic figures in English studies, and as engineers of the structure of such studies in Morocco.
The present issue of the quarterly is devoted to the poetry of Mohammed Abu-Talib who is a representative figure of such a poetry, and who during his lifetime was a living testimony to Moroccan cultural openness and plurality.
