Mohammed Achaari

is a Moroccan poet and author, born in 1951 in Moulay Driss Zerhoun. He graduated in law in 1975 from Mohammed V University, Rabat. He started his literary life with a short story, “Waiting for the Death of the Father” in 1967. Since 1978 he has published six collections of poetry, two novels and one collection of short stories. During the early eighties he was jailed for his political activities. He has been twice elected president of the Moroccan Union of Writers, 1989-96. In 1997 he was elected a deputy for Rabat. In 1998 Mohammed Achaari became Minister of Culture, and since 2000 has been Minister of Culture and of Communications. His collections have been published in Baghdad, Beirut and Casablanca, and some works have been translated into French, Spanish, Russian and Dutch.