Tahar Ben Jelloun

Tahar Ben Jelloun was born in Fes, Morocco. He studied Philosophy in Rabat. In 1971, he moved to France, where he studied Psychology. He has been a professor, and he is currently a psychotherapist. Although his first language is Arabic, he writes in French. His novel La Nuit Sacrée won the Prix Goncourt in 1987. In 2004 he was awarded the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for This Blinding Absence of Light (translated from the French by Linda Coverdale). In 2008 he was awarded the Cross of Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur.