Letters of the Storm
Abdennour Mezzine
Letters of the Storm tells the story of a political activist in Morocco during the ‘Years of Lead’, a period of harsh governmental control between the 1960s and 1990s. Weaving together his personal life and political life, the novel examines the protagonist’s relationships before and after his initial imprisonment in Morocco and again during a second term of imprisonment in Andalusia, during which he faces psychological trauma. Central to this is the story of the activist’s love for Ghada, a woman he knew at university but lost touch with after being arrested.
Nomination
2016 Longlist
Abdennour Mezzine
Country of origin Morocco
About the author
Abdennour Mezzine is a Moroccan doctor and writer, born in the town of Ben Ahmed, near Chefchaouen, in 1965. In 1992, he obtained a doctorate in Medicine and since then has worked as a doctor and public health advisor in the Moroccan Ministry of Public Health. He published his first poems, written in French, in Al-Ra'i newspaper in Rabat, and then in 1992 published short stories in Arabic in the cultural supplement of the Al-Ittihad al-Ishtiraki newspaper.