The Moroccan Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication has unveiled the winners of the 56th Morocco Book Award for the year 2025, following a thorough evaluation of submitted works across various categories by the judging committees.
Celebrating Literary Excellence
The poetry award was jointly awarded to Moukhlis El-Saghir for his collection “The Contaminated Earth” and Munir Sarhany for “I Forgot Your Shoes, Father.” In the narrative category, Anis Al-Rafi’i received the prize for “They All Speak Through My Mouth,” while Jamal Bendahman was recognized for his novel “The Ordeal of the Linguist.”
Meanwhile, in the field of humanities, Abdelkader Malouq won for his work “The Philosophy of Maimonides and the Impact of Islamic Thought: A Study in Ethics and Interpretation,” alongside Ibrahim Majidila for “Humanism in the Personalism of Mohamed Aziz Al-Habbabi.”
Diverse Recognition in Arts and Literature
The award for literary, artistic, and linguistic studies went to Abdelali Damianni for “The Discourse of Otherness in the French Journey to Morocco.” Furthermore, Jamal Abarnous received the translation award for his Arabic rendition of “A Study in Amazigh Literature” by Henri Bassi.
In the domain of Amazigh culture, Fatima Shbili was honored for her work on Amazigh linguistics, while Saleh Ait Saleh captured the Amazigh literature award for his novel “Seven Hues of Discontent.” Children’s literature saw a shared prize awarded to Abdul Latif Ait Nila for “The Gloomy Golden Needle and Other Stories” and Ahmed Sebia for “An Empty Photo Album.”
Evaluating Social Sciences
Notably, the judging committees decided to withhold the social sciences award this year. Abdullah Saafi led the jury, which comprised several academics and researchers overseeing the evaluations for various subcategories.
This year’s competition featured 162 eligible titles across poetry, narrative, humanities, social sciences, literary and artistic studies, translation, Amazigh culture, Amazigh literature, and children’s literature. The distinguished recognition reflects not only the vibrancy of Moroccan literary contributions but also emphasizes the ongoing cultural discourse within the nation.
