Morocco
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Mohamed Choukri
Ayt Chiker (Rif), Morocco
Archival Overview
Rifian Moroccan literary icon who grew up illiterate on the streets of Tangier, learned to read and write at age twenty in prison, and authored the raw international autobiographical masterpiece 'For Bread Alone' (Al-Khubz al-Hafi).
Biographical Record
Mohamed Choukri (1935–2003) fled famine in the Rif mountains with his impoverished family as a child, surviving as a street urchin, shoe-shiner, and petty smuggler in the underworld of Tangier. Locked up in a colonial prison at age twenty, an inmate taught him the Arabic alphabet, unleashing an insatiable hunger for literature.
In 1973, translated into English by Paul Bowles (and later into French by Tahar Ben Jelloun), Choukri published For Bread Alone (Al-Khubz al-Hafi). Its unsparing, unvarnished depiction of poverty, child abuse, prostitution, and survival scandalized Moroccan authorities (who banned it until 2000) while winning ecstatic international acclaim, praised by Tennessee Williams as a summit of world autobiography.
Key Life Milestones
Publication of For Bread Alone
Published his raw autobiographical masterpiece, translated into forty languages worldwide.
Literary Friendship with Bowles & Genet
Penned celebrated memoirs detailing his intimate friendships with Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
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Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialTangier, Morocco