Edmond Amran El Maleh


Edmond Amran El Maleh was Moroccan Jewish writers of Arabic and Berber background.

Biography

El Maleh was born in Safi, Morocco to a Jewish family. He moved to Paris in 1965, working there as a journalist and a teacher of philosophy.
He only began writing in 1980, at the age of 63, traveling back and forth between France and Morocco. He stated that, in spite of his long stay in France, he had devoted his entire literary life to Morocco. From 1999 until his death he lived in Rabat.He was an anti-Zionist and declared that his father had taught him in the synagogue that Zionism had nothing to do with Judaism, and that what Jews were doing to Palestinians was against the principles of the jewish faith. He remained as a result isolated and ignored by most of the Moroccan Jewish community, and his name was made part of a list of anti-semites by the Jewish Zionist settlers in Palestine.
He was buried, according to his wishes, in the Jewish cemetery in Essaouira. He wrote in French.

Works

Following his first novel, Le parcours immobile, he published seven further novels and a book about the painting of Cherkaoui.
In 1996 he received the Grand Prix du Maroc for his work. The translation of 'Edmond Amran El Maleh, "Le retour d'Abou El Haki" by Hassan Bourkia received a special prize from the minister of culture Mohammed Achaari in 2005.