Tahar Ben Jelloun author biography, plus links to books by Tahar Ben Jelloun.

Tahar Ben Jelloun

Tahar Ben Jelloun, (born December 1, 1944, Fès, Morocco), is a Moroccan-French novelist, poet, and essayist. Brought up in Fes, From the age of 5 he attended a Koranic school, where he learned to memorize and recite verses from the Koran. Two years later, he entered a Franco-Arab school. Later, he studied philosophy at the University of Rabat.

In 1971 ben Jelloun immigrated to France to complete his studies at the Sorbonne. He then worked for a time in Paris as a psychotherapist. His first novel, Harrouda, was published in 1973. Since then, he has written nine novels, as well as several collections of short stories, poetry, and essays. He is perhaps best known for his trilogy about the life of Ahmed/Zahra, a girl whose father, desperate for a male heir, raises her as a boy: The Sand Child, which was a best-seller in France; The Sacred Night; and the recently published The Wrong Night.

This biography was last updated on 03/31/2009.

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