Mr. Yassine explained, in an interview with the Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP) agency, on the occasion of the second edition of the festival in the Red City between January 17 and 19, that this cultural event has become a bridge for communication between Moroccan writers and their counterparts from the Anglo-Saxon world, which enhances openness to the cultural environment, in addition to being an important event that contributes to enriching the literary cultural scene and helps develop dialogue between Arab and international literature.
He added that the festival achieves national and international visibility for Morocco in general and the city of Marrakech in particular, by hosting writers who write in the language of "Shakespeare" from various continents of the world, with a special focus during this year's edition on Moroccan writers living abroad.
To achieve this goal, the poet and novelist pointed out, in this context, that the festival association has concluded a partnership with the Council of the Moroccan Community Living Abroad, with the aim of attracting Moroccan writers abroad to meet their counterparts in their motherland, with the prospect that such meetings will lead to the creation of partnerships between the two parties, culminating in the publication and promotion of works, as well as encouraging publishing houses in Morocco to publish English books of various genres, or even translated works.
In this regard, he highlighted that the festival sheds light on the obstacles facing English books, whether published locally or imported, which was among the motives behind organising this festival to celebrate the English book, advocate for it, and discuss the conditions of its production, distribution, and circulation.
Speaking about the new programming for the second edition of the festival, Mr. Adnan confirmed that the festival management has decided to allocate a large portion of its activities to highlight Moroccan poetry written in English, as well as to display foreign books that have dealt with the ancient civilisation of the Kingdom of Morocco in general, and the city of Marrakech in particular, in addition to organising intellectual and literary seminars, lectures, book signing parties, and creative workshops, and activities aimed at children, which will be held at the Dar El Bacha Museum and the festival's parallel spaces.
He pointed out that during this edition, organised with the support of the British Council, the Council of the Moroccan Community Living Abroad, the Dar El Bacha Museum, the Dar Bellarj Foundation, the British Academy School, and the Higher School of Visual Arts in Marrakech, a new national book prize will be presented, which is the "Costa Goldex Prize" for Moroccan books written in English, which was awarded to the writer Oum Hani Alaoui for her novel "The House in Butterfly Street".
On another level, the festival president highlighted that this distinguished cultural event aims to promote English literature and achieve interaction between writers and intellectuals from all over the world, by encouraging cultural exchange and enhancing mutual understanding between different cultures through English literature, and allowing writers from different countries to communicate and interact with the local and international public.
He added that visitors to the festival will have the opportunity to see the latest literary works written in English, whether novels or non-fiction books, which enhances interest in English literature among the Moroccan and international public, through the organisation of workshops and educational discussion sessions aimed at discussing various literary topics, including writing, publishing, and the challenges of literature in the contemporary world.
Mr. Adnan concluded that the Marrakech English Book Festival keeps pace with deep societal transformations in its openness to the English language, which has become present, alongside Arabic, Amazigh, and French, within the linguistic mosaic of the Kingdom, confirming that this cultural event constitutes a unique opportunity to enrich the national library with the latest English books.
