After the success achieved by the first Short Story Festival organised in 2011, the Association of Social Works of Civil Servants of the province of Khenifra organised, last Friday and Saturday, the second edition of the Short Novel Festival, dedicated to the novelist and short story writer Mohamed Gharnat.

The opening session of this second session, organised on the theme "narration in the Moroccan tale", was chaired by the governor of the province, Hajir Ouali, who highlighted the primordial role of culture and reading which are perpetuated through the ages.

The governor subsequently wished that this meeting around the tale would encourage authors to show more creativity since they are rewarded and recognised in such events. Prizes have indeed been awarded each year to the best novelists, on the one hand, and for the liveliness of the cultural field of the province, on the other hand, and this, in close collaboration with the supervisory ministry and the Union of Moroccan Writers. The governor of the province also expressed the wish that this event be organised annually in the centre of the city of Khenifra, with the designation of a permanent committee to oversee the organisation of the festival. All material and financial means will indeed be mobilised for the success of the next edition, recalled the governor.

Friday was characterised by the presentation, in the province's conference hall, of two reports on short novels: the first on narration in the Moroccan novel and the second on short stories, led respectively by Doctor Abdelati Zyani and Doctor El Habib Daïm-Rabi, in the presence of an audience composed of novelists, men of letters and literature enthusiasts from the four corners of the country.

As for Saturday, it was marked, at the headquarters of the Association of Social Works of Education of Khenifra, by the reading of short tales by Mohamed Gharnat, as well as by a reading of short tales in the Amazigh language.

The session was led by Nadia Laachiri and Abdellah El Moutaki. These same sessions were followed by musical performances given by the "Anghame" troupe of Khenifra. Then, a short theatrical play was screened, adapted from one of Mohamed Gharnat's tales and directed by the Rachidi establishment of languages of Khenifra.

The closing ceremony of the second edition of the Short Novel Festival ended with a session of testimonies in honour of Mohamed Gharnat. After the reading by Hamid Ragata of excerpts from the collection entitled "Dae Dieb" by Mohamed Gharnat, prizes were awarded to the best students from various secondary education establishments, who themselves created tales, in coordination with the "Al Ansar" associations for culture, "Wachma" for plastic arts and the Association of Social Works of Education of Khenifra.

The importance of the tale is no longer to be demonstrated, but many efforts remain to be made to preserve it. The Conte'Act association for education and cultures organises an annual festival with a view to valuing this popular oral heritage while promoting the regional and provincial specificities of it. The tale festivals organised in the Skhirat-Temara prefecture remind us of the importance of this popular art for the new generations and its role in favour of the construction of Moroccan identity based on diversity and variety. Recently, Moroccan researchers also called for the creation of a Maghreb observatory of popular tales in order to preserve popular memory and safeguard this unique oral heritage.