Mohamed Choukri
Moroccan author of the censored autobiography *For Bread Alone*.
via Wikipedia: Culture of Algeria · see source
Mohamed Choukri was a Moroccan author and novelist, best known for his internationally acclaimed autobiography *For Bread Alone*. His work is noted for its unflinching depiction of poverty, violence, and sexual experience, which drew both literary praise and censorship in the Arab world.
- born
- 15 July 1935
- died
- 15 November 2003
- field
- Author, novelist
- nationality
- Moroccan
- known_for
- Autobiographical trilogy beginning with *For Bread Alone*
Lore & Background
Mohamed Choukri was born in 1935 in Beni Chiker, a small village in the Rif mountains of Morocco, into a very poor family. He ran away from his abusive father and became a homeless child in Tangier, surrounded by misery, violence, and drug abuse. At age 20, he decided to learn to read and write, later becoming a schoolteacher. His family name Choukri is connected to the Amazigh tribe cluster Beni Chiker. In the 1960s in Tangier, he met writers Paul Bowles, Jean Genet, and Tennessee Williams. International success came with the English translation of *For Bread Alone* by Paul Bowles in 1973. The book was translated into French by Tahar Ben Jelloun in 1980, published in Arabic in 1982, and censored in Morocco from 1983 to 2000. It was later translated into 30 languages. Choukri's main works include his autobiographical trilogy: *For Bread Alone*, *Time of Mistakes* (also called *Streetwise*), and *Faces*. He also wrote short story collections and accounts of his encounters with Bowles, Genet, and Williams. He died of cancer on 15 November 2003 in Rabat and was buried in Tangier. Before his death, he created a foundation to own his copyrights, manuscripts, and personal writings.
Reader's Guide
Mohamed Choukri's significance lies in his stark, autobiographical writing that broke taboos in Moroccan and Arab society. Choukri's work is a protest against the forces that shaped his harsh childhood, and his legacy includes a foundation intended to preserve his literary estate. His accounts of encounters with expatriate writers in Tangier also contribute to his literary importance. Despite controversy, his work has been translated into 30 languages and adapted into a film.
Did You Know?
- Choukri learned to read and write at age 20, after a childhood of homelessness and poverty.
- His autobiography *For Bread Alone* was translated into English by Paul Bowles in 1973.
- Choukri created a foundation before his death to own his copyrights and manuscripts.
Gallery
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Mohamed Choukri?
Mohamed Choukri (15 July 1935 – 15 November 2003) was a Moroccan novelist and autobiographer whose stark, first-person accounts of street life in Casablanca made him one of the most talked-about voices in modern Arabic-language fiction.
What is Mohamed Choukri's most famous work?
His breakthrough novel *For Bread Alone* is an unvarnished memoir of hunger, crime, and survival in mid-twentieth-century Morocco, and it launched the autobiographical trilogy for which he is best remembered.
Why was *For Bread Alone* censored in the Arab world?
The book's blunt descriptions of poverty, violence, and sexual encounters clashed with prevailing social and political sensitivities, prompting publishing authorities in several Arab countries to ban or restrict its distribution.
What is Mohamed Choukri's autobiographical trilogy?
It is a three-part first-person cycle that opens with *For Bread Alone* and continues his unfiltered chronicle of a young Moroccan man's encounters with the streets, military service, and the justice system.
Why does Mohamed Choukri matter for African and diaspora writers?
Choukri demonstrated that a working-class, non-elite Moroccan voice could command serious international literary attention, helping to open a template for raw autobiographical storytelling across the Francophone and Arab African literary landscape.
More in African And African Diaspora Writers 1-24
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