On January 4, 2020, between 5pm-7pm, Marrakech’s Galerie Tindouf is hosting a conversation with author Tahar Ben Jelloun. The Moroccan writer was awarded the Prix Goncourt for his novel La Nuit Sacrée (The Sacred Night) and the International Dublin Literary Award for Cette aveuglante absence de lumière (This Blinding Absence of Light) in 2004. Ben Jelloun has also been honored with a prize for “peace and friendship between people” at the Lazio between Europe and the Mediterranean Festival.
Tahar Ben Jelloun was originally recognized in 1985 for his novel L’Enfant de Sable (The Sand Child). Prior to this acknowledgment, he worked as a philosophy professor in Morocco then wrote articles for Souffles, a progressive literary magazine that rebelled against the repressive acts of the Moroccan police. Shortly after, he moved to Paris and began writing for Le Monde (1972).
Although Tahar’s first language is Arabic and he studied at both the Lycée Regnault in Tangier and the Mohammed V University in Rabat, the Fes born author chooses to pen his works in the French language. Today Ben Jelloun is 75 years old and resides in Paris.
About Tindouf Gallery: The gallery was first established by the Temli family in Tangier in 2007. It was founded by a father and daughter Boubker and Hadia Temli who later created a Marrakech sister gallery. Tindouf presents a wide range of artwork ranging from antiquities to contemporary multi mixed medina. Curator Boubker Temli leads behind the scenes and has served as a great inspiration for his daughter, Hadi who launched Gallerie Siniya 28 in 2016, with the goal to support emerging Moroccan artists.