In the Arab world, there is no link between the cultural habits of peoples and the ways of thinking and creating of modern intellectuals. They are two separate worlds.

In the 70s I was in exile; every time I went back I wondered if they'd take my passport away.

I read a poem every night, as others read a prayer.

An individual voice can be heard in a choir that otherwise sings in unison. This is something that is not excused.

I am a Moroccan writer of French expression.

I am glad to have found a readership, but one can’t write only what is likely to sell. A writer is not a shopkeeper. A writer creates an imaginary world that he transmits to others.

Real friendship, like real poetry, is extremely rare - and precious as a pearl.