Born in Fes in 1944, Tahar Ben Jelloun became the first Maghrebi writer to win France's Prix Goncourt in 1987 for 'La Nuit Sacrée', and a key bridge between Moroccan and French letters.
**Tahar Ben Jelloun** is one of the towering figures of contemporary Francophone literature. Born in **Fes in 1944**, raised between Tangier and Casablanca, trained as a philosopher and psychotherapist, he has built over five decades a body of work that bridges Moroccan and French cultures.
**From Fes to Paris:**
Ben Jelloun left Morocco for France in 1971 after a period of political tension, and obtained a doctorate in social psychiatry. He gradually established himself as a major novelist, essayist and poet, writing in French while drawing constantly on Moroccan oral tradition, Arab-Islamic heritage and Maghrebi history.
**The First Maghrebi Goncourt (1987):**
In **1987**, his novel **"La Nuit Sacrée"** — the sequel to *L'Enfant de sable* — won the **Prix Goncourt**, France's most prestigious literary prize. Ben Jelloun became the **first Maghrebi writer ever to win the Goncourt**, opening the door for generations of North African voices in the French canon.
**A Body of Work That Crosses Borders:**
His novels — *L'Enfant de sable*, *La Nuit Sacrée*, *Le Racisme expliqué à ma fille*, *Cette aveuglante absence de lumière*, *Le Bonheur conjugal* — are translated into more than 50 languages and taught in schools and universities around the world.
**A Public Intellectual:**
Beyond fiction, Ben Jelloun has been a long-running columnist for **Le Monde** and other major newspapers, intervening on Moroccan politics, the rise of racism in Europe, the Arab Spring and the role of Islam in modern societies.
**Member of the Académie Goncourt:**
Since **2008**, Ben Jelloun has been a member of the **Académie Goncourt jury** — the body that awards the prize he himself once won — sealing his place at the very heart of French literary life and, with it, Morocco's place in world literature.