Mohammed Achaari

Mohammed Achaari and the writer Raja Alem (2011)

Mohammed Achaari (different spelling of the name: Mohammed Achaâri ; Arabic محمد الأشعري, DMG Muḥammad al-Ašʿarī ; * 1951 in Boumandra, Moulay Idris , Meknes Prefecture ) is a Moroccan journalist , writer and politician of the Socialist Union of People's Forces USFP (Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires) , who was Minister of Culture in 1998 and 2007 and in 2011 for his novel The Arch and the Butterfly was awarded the International Prize for Arabic Fiction .

Life

After attending school in Meknés, Mohammed Achaari studied at the Mohammed V University in Rabat . In 1975 he became a member of the UEM (Union des écrivains du Maroc) writers' association and between 1979 and 1984 served as the first general secretary of the National Agricultural Union (Syndicat national de l'agriculture) . From 1983 to 1998 he was director of the office of the daily Al-Ittihad al-Ichtiraki . Between 1989 and 1996 he was both President of the Union des écrivains du Maroc and a member of the General Secretariat of the Association of Asian and African Writers. In the election of November 14, 1997 , he became a member of the Assembly of Representatives (Chambre des représentants) for the Socialist Union of People's Forces USFP (Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires ) . He was also a member of the USFP's Politburo.

On March 14, 1998 Achaari took over the office of Minister of Culture (Ministre des Affaires culturelles) in the cabinet of Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi or, after a government reshuffle, on September 6, 2000, the Minister of Culture and Communication (Ministre de la Culture et de la Communication) . In the election of September 27, 2002 he was again a member of the Assembly of Representatives for the constituency of Meknés and on October 9, 2002 Minister of Culture in the government of Prime Minister Driss Jettou . He held this ministerial office until the end of Prime Minister Jettou's term of office on September 19, 2007.

After retiring from the government Mohammed Achaari member was of the editorial board of the magazine Al Machroue Revue . the National Press Union (Syndicat National de la Presse) and the Solidarity Foundation of Mohammed V of Morocco . He has written articles for the daily newspapers Al Alam and Al Moharrir as well as editor and editor-in-chief of Al Balagh Al Maghribi and the daily newspaper Al-Ittihad al-Ichtiraki . In 2011 he was awarded the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his book The Arch and the Butterfly . At the same time, the writer Raja Alem was honored for her book The Dove Collar .

Background literature

• Aomar Boum, Thomas K. Park: Historical Dictionary of Morocco , Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, ISBN 1-4422-6297-4 , p. 24