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.

What have we achieved since the end of the Second World War? We have allowed petty, bourgeois regimes in which everything is average, mediocre.

I love life in spite of all that mars it. I love friendship, jokes and laughter.

I don't feel guilty about expressing myself in French; nor do I feel that I am continuing the work of the colonizers.

We must have our say, not through violence, aggression or fear. We must speak out calmly and forcefully. We shall only be able to enter the new world era if we agree to engage in dialogue with the other side.

At 21, I discovered repression and injustice. The army would shoot students with real bullets.

My hope is that countries like Morocco will have investment to create work, so people don't have to leave.