In an interview by Radio 2 M on April 21 2025, the President of the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME), Driss El Yazami, said that the Council’s programme for the 30th edition of the International Publishing and Book Fair in Rabat, organised between 18 and 28 April, reflects the changes experienced by the Moroccans abroad, focusing on the cultural factor in order to further consolidate the relations between Moroccans and their country of origin.
In order to achieve this, he said that the “preparation” of the CCME preparation for the fair started a year ago in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication. In this interview he explains the reasons why the number of Moroccans living abroad all over the world reached 170 guests from 15 countries.
He said that the cultural programme of the Moroccan Community Council Abroad in this edition includes more than 70 different activities and round tables on a variety of intellectual, cultural and literary fields such as novels, stories and poetry, including a major evening with the participation of poets from the Moroccan diaspora in several languages, that will be open to participants and visitors.
While praising the initiative of the 30th edition of the exhibition to honour the Moroccan diaspora during this edition, he says in the interview, in response to a question about the changes in migration, that ” besides the economic and social field, it should be reminded that the transfer of Moroccan expatriates helps many families to face the charges of life, in particular the poorest ones … and that migration contributes to both social change as well as a changing mindset, and that today the cultural aspect is slowly beginning to take the place it needs, given the high level of education among the younger generations and the work carried out by those who are concerned with history. Mr. El Yazami, observes that Moroccans today, through their diverse national and international presence, are actively contributing intellectually, culturally, literarily and artistically to the renewal of Moroccan modernity in the 21st century, something that the CCME is trying to bring attention to in the program of this session.
Addressing the growing literary creation by Moroccans, he explains how literature is becoming more multilingual, including Arabic, Amazigh and French, adding that writing expressions have moved to other languages such as Spanish, Castilian, Catalan, Flemish, English, German and Italian, knowing that the shift affects gender through the “feminization” of writings by Moroccans abroad, as well as the feminisation of writing.
With regard to the publications to which the CCME contributed, he points out that 20 books were published this year, including biographies by Moussa Slaoui and Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, as well as a book by Hamid Berrada, adding that since 2010, the MCMC has published more than 250 publications, in addition to what foreign publishing houses distribute the creativity of Moroccans in various fields at the international level, in addition to that of Moroccans.
As for the significant presence of women in the Council’s programme, he explains that the Council, in collaboration with the publishing house Fennec, has assembled a compilation of the works of seven young French women writers of Moroccan origin, and a novel was translated from the Irish language this year, pointing to the announcement of a large translation programme with the support of the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication.
After referring to the Council’s efforts in preserving the memory of Moroccan writers such as Driss Chraibi and the lyrical heritage and in the field of plastic arts, he explained that the founding films produced on migrations have been programmed through an exceptional programme, stressing that the current session enabled the exploration of the Moroccan dynamic, through the significant presence of the world’s Moroccan creators in the exhibition and their contribution to cultural events to strengthen their relationship with the world of culture, stressing that Moroccans have often expressed their sense of pride in their country Morocco, wishing to participate and contribute to its development in various fields.
