Although you are no longer with us, it may be that others will measure the void you leave and the truly unique role you played at the crossroads of different worlds and generations. You were a businessman and a publisher, an ardent campaigner for your community's cause and a tireless advocate for books. A fine and clever advocate for the publishing industry to every new Minister of Culture. There were times, Si Abdelkader, when you seemed to have made an advance appointment with the new Minister for Culture even before the government was appointed. And then, each time, like every other time, you would put your work back on the table and repeat your plea for books and for reading. Always with some success with the officials. While some people were envious of this energy and expertise, I personally admired the skill of the artist.
These images of your last months with us will remain. In your living room or in your bed in the hospital, as the terrible disease raged on, discussing publishing projects and books to come as passionately as ever. I will never forget the sense of pride we saw in you at the hospital shortly before you passed away, as you received a final version of the design for a fine book so that you could approve it for printing. Like every book, you were attentive to the text, of course, but also to the title, the photo, the cover... and you modestly asked for advice, as a professional with a proven track record. I proposed removing a photo and you kindly followed my advice. A great man.
We will always remember the last two books we made together: publishing the Arabic and French versions of Les Indésirables, the comic novel by Aomar Boum which was originally published in English, and finalising in record time the fine book on the Atlas Lions' epic success at the World Cup in Qatar. We were at the national team retreat near Tangiers on Friday 24 March 2023, on the eve of the match - and victory - against Brazil's Seleçao. How proud you were to give a copy to each player and member of the technical team. You made it a point of portraying them as famous and recognised footballers. The two books were unveiled at the last book fair, carried forward by your passionate and resilience spirit.
The memories of shared meals and your advice on good Casablanca restaurants will always be with us.
My dear Si Abdelkader, we first met quite late in life, in 2007 or 2008 if memory serves, and over the years we have become partners and friends. Over the years we have become partners and friends. You have published more than sixty works with the National Council for Human Rights (CNDH) and the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME). The source of this partnership was a shared interest in books and reading, and a common conviction that there can be no development without great cultural ambitions. But that wasn't all.
I also admired your enthusiasm as a citizen. In your eyes, public life was the concern of everyone, which is why you were so involved in the well-known world of sport, in the organisation of the profession, a more complicated task, and in your efforts to develop the representation of Moroccan publishers at major European and African fairs. You had a passion for the world, and that was not the smallest of your qualities. I see you still on your feet, of course, in Geneva in 2012, Paris in 2017 as well as Brussels in 2020, at the Moroccan Pavilion, which was the guest of honour at book fairs in all three capitals. You also attended the book fairs in Cairo in 2017 and Quebec in 2018, where Morocco was the guest of honour. Like many other friends, you dreamed of the Kingdom one day being the guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
I used to like seeing you in your offices, surrounded by your young and mostly female team, challenging its members in turn, taking me along to see the progress of one or other of their models, and then passing on the torch, seemingly without touching it. You were a master yourself.
You have left us, my friend, but the legacy is there to tell us, and future generations, what your contribution has been: you have published hundreds of books, you have built a publishing company that remains strong, La Croisée des chemins, and you had a great football career with the RAJA team. In 2017, you and Neila Tazi launched the Fédération des industries culturelles et créatives (Federation of Cultural and Creative Industries), which is one of your last works, and you have left so many other legacies.
You will always be remembered in the heart of your wife, your children, their spouses and your grandchildren, and in all our hearts, the members of your team, your authors and the thousands of heartbroken friends who will wander through the alleys of this book fair, remembering all the intense moments we shared together and the dreams that came to life and the ones that remain as projects.
They will wander through thousands of books on the shelves, gathering and conversing as they expect you to appear. They will then remember that you have left and will console themselves, maybe, by looking through a book, or by buying it to be read or given as a gift and ... to find you again.
Driss El Yazami
