Mohammed Achaari was born in 1951 in Zerhoun, Morocco. After studying Law and Administration, he worked in political and cultural journalism and was editor of a number of newspapers and cultural supplements. He has written articles on literature and the arts alongside poetry and short stories. For three consecutive years, he was head of the Union of Moroccan writers and his political work led him to take up various government posts, including that of Minister of Culture in Morocco between 1998 and 2007. His 11 poetry collections have been published in Baghdad, Beirut and Casablanca, and he is regarded as one of the most prominent poetic voices of the 70's generation in Morocco. His novel The Arch and the Butterfly won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2011 and was recently nominated for the Italian Ziator Prize. His works have been translated into a number of languages. He lives in Rabat, Morocco, where he is a full-time writer.