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Mohammed Bennis
is a poet born in Fès, Morocco, in 1948. His first collection of poems was published in 1960 and to date he has eleven collections. He loved poetry from an early age. He studied philosophy in Fès, and since 1980 has taught in the Faculty of Philosophy in Rabat.
In 1971 he founded the avant-garde and influential literary journal Al-Thakafa al-Jadida [New Culture], which he continued publishing until it was banned in 1984.
In 1985, together with a group of university teachers and authors, he started the publishing house Toubqal, now one of the best-regarded literary publishers in Morocco. In 1996 he co-founded the House of Poetry in Morocco, and until 2003 was its president.
Mohammed Bennis was primarily responsible for the establishment in 2000 by UNESCO of an annual World Poetry Day on 21 March to stimulate dialogue among cultures through poetry.
Much of his work has been translated and published in French and selected poems translated into other languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese and Swedish. He has also published four books of essays and translated several books from French into Arabic. He lectures at the College of Literature and Humanities in Rabat.
Contributor's Issues
The Tent Generations
Things I Left Behind by Shada Mustafa, translated by Nancy Roberts
Shadow of the Sun by Taleb Alrefai
Birds of Nabaa, A Mauritanian Tale by Abdallah Uld Mohamadi Bah
The Stone Serpent, Barates of Palmyra’s Elegy for Regina his Beloved by Nouri Al-Jarrah
Mansi A Rare Man in His Own Way by Tayeb Saleh (Banipal Books, 2020)
Tayeb Salih
Goat Mountain by Habib Selmi
Habib Selmi, author of Goat Mountain and 3 times shortlisted for the IPAF
The Mariner by Taleb Alrefai (Banipal Books, 2020)
Taleb Alrefai, author of Shadow of the Sun and The Mariner
Digital images
Fadhil Al-Azzawi's Beautiful Creatures by Fadhil al-Azzawi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Fadhil al-Azzawi
Poems of Alexandria and New York by Ahmed Morsi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Digital Banipal promotion B67
Saïd Khatibi
Amjad Nasser (1955–2019)
Digital Banipal the full archive
Denys Johnson-Davies (1922–2017) 70 years translating Arabic literature
Ahmed Morsi, author of Poems of Alexandria and New York
Sarajevo Firewood
The Madness of Despair
Mahmoud Shukair – see special feature of Banipal 70 (Spring 2021)
LATEST NEWS
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Link to poems by Mosab Abu Toha, published in Banipal 71 (Summer 2021), available to read online
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Link to poem by Liana Badr published in Banipal 74, now available as an online selection
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GRIFFIN PRIZE SHORTLIST 2023
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Banipal's first audiobook* * *
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Banipal Book Club
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