Khnata Bennouna ( ar, خناثة بنونة born in

Fez, Morocco Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès, Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the List of cities in Morocco, second largest city i ...

from a family of four children, 1940) is a Moroccan author of

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

and short stories. Bennouna is regarded as a politically inclined writer. Her books frequently deal with the Palestinian subject both from a political and

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...

point of view. Bennouna worked as a principal of Wullada high-school at

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

.Malcolm Williams, Gavin Watterson, ''An Anthology of Moroccan Short Stories'', ed. King Fahd School of Translation, 1995

Life

Khnata Bennouna is the first Moroccan woman to write, at a time when only men were taking over this activity. She is one of the first Moroccan women to challenge traditions and customs after refusing to marry at a very young age and after rebelling against her father’s wishes. She was also the first woman to write a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

. This was in 1969 and the preface is none other than the leader of the national movement Allal El Fassi.

Bibliography

*Liyasqet Assamt (Down with Silence!) (1967) *Annar wa Al-'ikhtiyar (Fire and Choice) (1969) - won the Morocco Literary Prize in 1971 *Assawt wa Assurah (Sound and Image) (1975) *Al-A'asifah (The Tempest) (1979) *Al-Ghad wa Al-Ghadab (Tomorrow and Wrath) (1981) *Assamt Annatiq (Talking Silence) (1987)

References

1940 births Living people Moroccan women novelists Moroccan novelists People from Fez, Morocco 20th-century Moroccan women writers 21st-century Moroccan women writers 20th-century Moroccan writers 21st-century Moroccan writers Women school principals and headteachers {{Morocco-writer-stub