Musa Moris Farhi MBE (5 July 1935 – 5 March 2019)Tessler, Gloria
"Obituary: Musa Moris Farhi MBE"
''

Jewish Chronicle Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

'', 2 May 2019. was a Turkish author who was vice-president of

International PEN PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internatio ...

from 2001 to his death in 2019.

Profile

Farhi was born to a

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

family in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, in 1935. He received a B.A. in Humanities from Robert Academy,

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, in 1954. He came to the UK in the same year and trained at The

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

, graduating in 1956 and settling in London. After a brief career as an actor, he took up writing. He wrote several novels, including ''Children of the Rainbow'' and ''Journey through the Wilderness''. ''Children of the Rainbow'' received two prizes: the “Amico Rom” from the Associazione Them Romano of Italy (2002); and the “Special” prize from the Roma Academy of Culture and Sciences in Germany (2003). The French edition of ''Young Turk'' (''Jeunes Turcs'') received the 2007 Alberto Benveniste Prize for Literature. His poems have appeared in many British, US and European publications and in the anthology of 20th-century Jewish poets, ''Voices Within the Ark'' (Avon, US, 1979). He also published short stories in anthologies and magazines in the UK, the US and Poland. He wrote many television scripts such as The Onedin Line 1972 episode "Beyond the Upper Sea"; a film, ''The Primitives''; and a stage play, ''From The Ashes of Thebes''. Farhi's essay, "The Courage To Forget", appeared in ''

Index on Censorship Index on Censorship is an organization campaigning for freedom of expression, which produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association w ...

'' (Vol. 24, No. 2, 2005). "God Save Us From Religion", is included in the collection, ''Free Expression is No Offence'' (edited by Lisa Appignanesi, published by Penguin Books, 2005). "All History is the History of Migration", given at the "Know Your Place?" Conference in November 2005, was also published by ''Index on Censorship'' in 2006. Farhi's works have been translated into Arabic, Dutch, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Romanian and Turkish. He donated part of his personal library, consisting over 19,000 books, to

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus strait. It has six faculties and t ...

. For more than 25 years Farhi campaigned, from the ranks of English

PEN A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC), for writers persecuted and/or imprisoned by repressive regimes. Between 1994 and 1997, he served as Chair of the English WiPC; and between 1997 and 2000, as Chair of International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee. In November 2001 he was elected a Vice-President of International PEN. He was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) on 16 June 2001 in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, for services to literature. He was a Fellow of both

The Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elec ...

(elected in 2001) and The Royal Geographical Society. Farhi also briefly worked on the BBC's science fiction series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'' during its early stages of production in 1963. He drafted scripts for the serial "Farewell, Great Macedon" and the stand-alone episode "The Yellow Arc of Fragrance", neither of which ultimately entered production. Audio adaptations of these scripts would later appear in 2010 as '' The First Doctor Boxset'' as part of the '' Doctor Who: The Lost Stories'' line released by

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include '' Doctor Who'', th ...

Personal life

Farhi was first married to Monique Hassid, and they divorced amicably after 12 years. In 1978 he married psychoanalytic psychotherapist Nina Sievers (''née'' Gould; 1943–2009), and has a stepdaughter, Rachel Sievers, a speech therapist. He was related to the late prominent businessman

Üzeyir Garih Üzeyir Garih (1929 – August 25, 2001) was a Turkish engineer, businessman, writer and investor. Early years Üzeyir Garih was born in İstanbul on 28 June 1929. He graduated from İstanbul Technical University ranking in the Dean's Honors list ...

and was the cousin of fashion designer Nicole Farhi. His death in March 2019 was reported in ''

The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddest ...

''.Chandler, Mark
"Writer and PEN vice-president Moris Farhi dies, aged 84"
''The Bookseller'', 6 March 2019.

Filmography

*'' The Flesh and the Fiends'' (1960) – Stallholder (uncredited) *'' From Russia with Love'' (1963) – Gypsy (uncredited) *'' You Only Live Twice'' (1967) – Control Room Technician (uncredited)

Novels

*''The Pleasure of Your Death'' (Constable, 1972) *''The Last of Days'' (Bodley Head & Crown, US, 1983) *''Journey Through the Wilderness'' (Macmillan/Picador, 1989) *''Children of the Rainbow'' (Saqi, 1999) *''Young Turk'' (Saqi 2004) *''A Designated Man'' (Telegram Books, 2009) *''Songs From Two Continents Poems (Saqi 2011)

References

External links

Listen to Moris Farhi reading his poetry
– a British Library recording, 28 May 2008.
Profile
at English

Article by Farhi
at the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

''
Moris Farhi Gift Book Catalogue
at