By Mohammed Amine Benabou
Rabat – Along with Hamid Guessous and Azzeddine Chentouf for their translations of Patrick Chamoiseau’s “la matière de l’absence” and Maurice Blanchot’s “l’écriture du désastre” respectively, Ahmed Boukous was awarded the Grand Atlas Prix for his novel “Rhapsodies of Tanit the Captive” or “Rhapsodies de Tanit la captive” in French.
This event was organized by Mohammed V Museum in Rabat on Thursday evening, February 14, and initiated by The French Embassy to Morocco.
The Prix Grand Atlas literary awards, in its 25th edition, were presented in a ceremony that was held in Rabat.
The writer expressed his pleasure for having been honored with the literary prize: “it is a great encouragement for me to continue in this domain[writing].”
Ahmed Boukous’s latest novel was placed under the category of francophone fiction. His work of fiction depicts fragments of Tanit, named after the goddess of fertility, who suffers at the hands of bigots.
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The novel recounts the story Tanit, a university professor and human rights activist, who is disgusted at the degree of retardedness inflicting society and attempts to break free from the yoke of conservatism but eventually ends up being held captive by zealous inquisitors.
The 72-year-old Ahmed Boukous is a not only a writer, but also a linguist, sociologist and an eminent researcher of Amazigh culture. He is also the president of the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture.
She struggles to recover the lost dignity of women in the dark corners of society.
Presided over by Barbara Cassin, a French philosopher, the event saw a sizeable turnout of important intellectual figures.
Among them were the university professor and specialist in Arabic translation Frédéric Lagrange, Frédéric Lagrange, researcher and translation specialist Zakia Sinaceur, philosopher and translator Abdesslam Benabdelali, academic Sanaa Ghouati, librarian Miriam Diouri, and Nezha Lakhal, a storyteller, author, and musician.
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