With more than sixty speakers from Morocco and nine other countries (Germany, Belgium, Spain, the United States, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Qatar), approximately twenty partners involved in developing the programme and a shared pavilion with six other institutions active in the promotion of human rights, good governance, human development and participatory democracy, the CCME is proposing a series of events to highlight what it has to offer at the 29th edition of the Salon international de l'édition et de le livre (SIEL). These are some of the themes that the CCME is proposing for the 29th edition of the Salon international de l'édition et du livre (SIEL) under the title: “Ecrire le Maroc, raconter le monde”.
This year's programme has been put together as part of a broad partnership, with four main themes and several special events.
The first event; “A book, a partner”, will feature four books co-published by CCME and the four publishing houses (Langages du sud, la Croisée des chemins, Sochepress and Malika éditions), including one book published in three languages.
The second will feature a “carte blanche” for nine female novelists, writers and researchers, who have chosen the theme on which they would like to discuss with two guests of their choice. Chadia Arab, Hassnae Bouazza, Samira El Ayachi, Soundouss Chraïbi, Kébir Mustapha Ammi, Mohamed El Morabet, Farid El Asri, Hassan Bousetta and Merouane Touali will be taking part in these “cartes blanches”.
A third theme, “Just published”, highlights the most recent literary releases, offering the SIEL visitors an opportunity to discover the latest works by Laïla Bahsaïn, Rim Najmi, Nesrine Slaoui, Khalid Lyamlahy, Zineb Mekouar and Karima Moual.
In addition, three unique previews will be held at the Renaissance cinema. The Moroccan public will have the chance to discover a fiction movie (Sisterhood, by Nora El Hourch), a documentary (Mora est là, by Khalid Zairi) and a musical “Arrivée par avion”, by Nadia Benzakour).
Several other activities are also planned. In partnership with the Cercle des lauréats de Belgique (CLB) and the Délégation générale Wallonie-Bruxelles au Maroc, a homage will be payed to the late Lahcen Zinoun, who recently passed away, and a roundtable is also scheduled in partnership with the Club des journalistes accrédités au Maroc (CJAM) on ‘Being a journalist today’ with Moroccan journalists from abroad and Morocco and MAP's Director General, who will give the opening speech.
Overall, the programme reflects the extraordinary vitality of Moroccan writers and artists around the world, the diversity of their talents and their desire to create, in each their own way, a bond with their roots, while at the same time refusing to accept any definitive labels and assuming their multiple identities. The diversity reflected in this programme is revealed in a wide range of other initiatives.
For the months of May and June only, two events to celebrate Moroccan talent worldwide are being organized with the Council's support: the Diwan Awards in Brussels on 18 May and the “Trophées des Marocains du Monde” in Marrakech on 25 May. On June 1 and 2, in Paris, the Maghreb des livres will be honoring Moroccan literature at the Hôtel de Ville, with our support.
As for partnerships between international skills centres and universities and the private sector in Morocco, several events will be held, including the 13th edition of the meetings on solid-state chemistry, organised by various universities in the Casablanca-Settat region (El Jadida, 15, 16 and 17 May 2024), the 6th summer university organised by the Eman Aerospace international network of Moroccan aeronautics specialists (Agadir and Laâyoune, from 24 June to 6 July 2024) and further afield, in Paris this September, the 16 th "Tremplin Maroc" event organised by Maroc entrepreneurs.
Another event that should be mentioned in the context of SIEL will be the re-publication of seven books by the late Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine (1941-1995) in a boxed set co-edited in partnership with the Académie du Royaume du Maroc and Editions le Fennec. Two other box sets are scheduled to be released in the next few months, featuring the novels of Kebir Mustapha Ammi and Rachid Benzine.
At a time where many societies are plagued by movements of exclusion of the ‘other’ or of those who are perceived as such, even if they were born and raised in the country, the present programme reflects the tremendous level of creativity that exists in all communities of ‘foreign descent’, in our case the worldwide Moroccan community and its descendants. In every field and in every language in the world, the creators invited here show tremendous talent, contributing to both Moroccan culture and the culture of the country of residence and/or birth, with a major trend in the background: the growing “feminization” of this talent, as shown by the list of our guests, which is almost made up of equal numbers of men and women. Another piece of good news.
Driss El Yazami
