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Literature 2020

Moncef Ouhaibi

Tunisia

Moncef Ouhaibi, born in 1949 in Tunisia, is Professor of Arabic Literature at the Universities of Kairouan and Sousse and a permanent member of the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts. He has published numerous poetry books in both Arabic and French, as well as writing short films and documentaries, notably En attendant Averroès (Waiting for Averroès), Paul Klee à Hammamet (Paul Klee in Hammamet), Devant les portes de Kairouan (Before the gates of Kairouan) et Pays qui me ressemble (Country that looks like me), which has been translated into several languages. He has been nominated for several prizes including the Comar d’Or literary prize, the Okaz Poet award for Arab poetry, and the Nikos Gatsos literary prize. 

 

About The Book

Belkas ma Qabl Al Akheera (The Penultimate Cup) published by Meskeliani Publishing and Distribution (Tunisia) in 2019. Marking the first time that the award has been given to a work of poetry, Ouhaibi explores the position Tunisia occupies within the Mediterranean, between the Arab and Western symbolist tradition. A ‘poetry of experience’, the collection unfolds the realities of love and of death, including poems dedicated to his parents and to the Syrian tragedy.

Published: 2019

Interview with

Moncef Ouhaibi

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