Abdellatif LAABI

(picture copyrights: L. Monier)

 

Abdellatif LAABI est né en 1942, à Fès. Il fonde en 1966 la revue Souffles, qui jouera un rôle déterminant dans le renouvellement littéraire et culturel au Maghreb. Son opposition intellectuelle au régime lui vaut d’être emprisonné pendant huit ans. Libéré en 1980, il s’exile en France en 1985. Son vécu est la source première d’une œuvre plurielle (poésie, roman, théâtre, essai) située au confluent des cultures, ancrée dans un humanisme de combat, pétrie d’humour et de tendresse. Par ailleurs, il a traduit en français nombre d’auteurs arabes contemporains, dont le poète palestinien Mahmoud Darwich. Abdellatif Laâbi a obtenu le prix Goncourt de la poésie en 2009 et le Grand Prix de la francophonie de l’Académie française en 2011.

Parmi ses œuvres :

- Aux Éditions de la Différence : Œuvre poétique I et II (2006 ; 2010; Zone de turbulences (poésie, 2012) ; Un autre Maroc (essai, 2013) ; La Saison manquante, suivi de Amour jacaranda (poésie, 2014) ; Le Principe d’incertitude (poésie, 2016) ; Petites Lumières (écrits sur la culture, 2017).

- Chez Gallimard : Le Fond de la jarre (roman, 2002 ; « Folio » 2010) ; L’Arbre à poèmes (anthologie personnelle, Poésie/Gallimard 2016).

- Aux éditions Rue du monde : J’atteste contre la barbarie (album pour la jeunesse, 2015).

- Aux Éditions Points : Le Livre imprévu (récit, réédition 2017).

 

 

 

 

 

(picture copyrights: L. Monier)

 

Abdellatif LAABI was born in 1942 in Fès in Marocco. While he was teaching French at Rabat’s high school, he was actively contributing to Souffles, a journal founded in 1966 that played a major role in the cultural renewal of literature in Maghreb. His intellectual opposition to the regime led him to prison for eight years. Released in 1980 he went into exile in France five years later. His life experience feeds his work that is as various as poetry, novel, drama and essay. Always at the confluence of cultures, he fights for humanist values through humor and tenderness in his writing. He also translated a large number of contemporary Arab authors, like the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwich. Abdellatif Laâbi was awarded by the French Goncourt Prize for Poetry in 2009 as well as the Great Prize for Francophonie from the Académie française 2 years later.

English translations:

  • Little Things ("Les Petites Choses", extract of "Le soleil se meurt"), poetry. Translated by Alan Baker, Leafe Press (Nottingham, UK), 2013
  • The Bottom of the Jar ("Le Fond de la jarre"), novel. Translated by André Naffis-Sahely, Archipelago Books (New York, USA), 2013
  • The Rule of Barbarism ("Le Règne de barbarie"), poetry. Translated by André Naffis-Sahely, Island Position (Brooklyn - Gorée - Maastricht), 2012
  • The Jackal’s Baptism ("Le Baptême chacaliste"), play. Translated by Gordon and Nancy Hadfield, Mayday Magazine (Ontario, Canada), 2010
  • Fragments of a forgotten genesis ("Fragments d'une genèse oubliée"), poetry. Translated by Nancy Hadfield and Gordon Hadfield, Leafe Press (Nottingham, UK), 2009
  • The World's Embrace (selected poems). Translated by Anne George, Edris Makward, Victor Reinking and Pierre Joris, City Lights Books, San Francisco, 2003
  • Rue du Retour ("Le Chemin des ordalies"), novel. Translated by Jacqueline Kaye, Readers Intenational, London, 1989

 

 

 

 

 

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