The Algiers book fair has taken place for the 25th time, following a two-year break owing to the pandemic. Independent Algerian publisher APIC used the occasion to showcase its avant-garde poetry series, initiated by the Algerian poet and ethnologist Habib Tengour. Interview by Regina Keil-SagaweMore

Bestselling author Leila Slimani's latest novel tells the story of her grandmother’s arduous life in rural Morocco during the immediate post-war period. Married to a Moroccan officer, the French woman struggles with the differences between their cultures, while both encounter growing hostility from the French settlers, and from the nationalists agitating for Moroccan independence. Volker Kaminski read the bookMore

Spring 2020 finally saw the publication of Aziz Binebine's Tazmamart memoir in English, translated by Lulu Norman. While it has now been nearly 30 years since the prisoners left their underground cells, Tazmamart remains synonymous both with hidden military prisons and with the terrors of Morocco’s Years of Lead. Marcia Lynx Qualey read the bookMore

Social media has democratised literary publishing, paving the way for young Moroccan writers to publish works which previously would not have enjoyed publication through traditional outlets. By Ismail AzzamMore

Mahi Binebine's father spent 35 years at the court of the Moroccan King Hassan II, not as a diplomat or a minister, but as the king's jester. Although the storyline sounds like something straight out of the Arabian Nights, it is in fact based on real events. By Volker KaminskiMore

Since the publication of his most recent novel, "Horses of God" (2013), based on a true story about young suicide bombers, Moroccan author and artist Mahi Binebine has been spending time working with disadvantaged youngsters in the slums of his native country. Interview by Michaela Maria MullerMore

The art of storytelling has always been part of Arab culture. Yet it is a tradition with an uncertain future. Filmmaker Thomas Ladenburger's exploration of the world of Moroccan storytellers provides a fascinating insight into the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. By Melanie Christina MohrMore