Rabat: The Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME) is participating in the 31st International Book Fair (SIEL), as a crossroads of Moroccan voices from the world, with a program that pays tribute to pioneering figures of literature stemming from emigration.

According to Agence Marocaine De Presse, more than 120 guests from about ten countries – including, for the first time, Australia – will take part, illustrating the ever-expanding literary landscape of Moroccans around the world, the CCME says in a press release. The Council’s participation to the Fair will feature four key moments, notably “Centenary of Driss Chraïbi,” “Tribute to Mohamed El Khatib”, “In memory of Ahmed Ghazali” and “The guests shape the program,” a new feature for this edition.

In this context, the CCME points out that 2026 marks the centenary of the birth of Driss Chraïbi, a founding figure of modern Moroccan literature and the first major Moroccan writer to have lived and published in France. The CCME, in partnership with She
ena Chraïbi and the author’s family, is paying tribute to him through discussions and debates dedicated to his work, as well as the re-release, in partnership with Le Fennec publishing house, of a boxed set of seven major titles (Le Passé simple; Les Boucs; Succession ouverte; La Civilisation, ma mère !; Une enquête au pays; La Mère du Printemps and Naissance à l’aube).

Commemorative events are also planned throughout 2026 in Morocco and internationally, notably in Paris, Montpellier, Rabat, El Jadida, Oujda, and other cities. The CCME also pays tribute to the French-Moroccan playwright, director, visual artist, and filmmaker Mohamed El Khatib, renowned for his work that gives voice to social groups often marginalized in artistic spaces. In addition to several discussions with him, a retrospective of his documentaries is being organized at the Cinéma 7e Art in partnership with the Centre Cinématographique Marocain (CCM), the Moroccan Cinematheque, and 2M TV. Finally, Mohamed El Khatib will give a performance
reading of his play Finir en beauté, written after the death of his mother (May 7, Café la Scène, Renaissance Cinema, in partnership with the Hiba Foundation).

The Council will further pay tribute to the memory of Ahmed Ghazali, who passed away in 2024. A playwright, museologist, and humanist writer, he left behind a unique body of theatrical work imbued with themes of travel, migration, and intercultural dialogue. The CCME will publish a boxed set containing five of his plays (Le mouton et la baleine; Traversées; Le ciel est trop bas; Mellah ou N’être que poussière; Tambouctou, 52 jours à dos de chameau) and will organize a meeting with his family and colleagues to reflect on his life and legacy.

As for “The guests shape the program” segment, invited authors participate directly in developing the program. This collaborative approach has resulted in some twenty events stemming from proposals submitted by participants of previous CCME events at SIEL. The CCME program at SIEL 2026 also includes the Literary C
afé and the Pop-Up Bookstore, which will offer more than two hundred titles on migration, memory, and contemporary creation, with a dedicated space for young readers.

As is its custom, the CCME is publishing numerous works for this occasion, including a reissue of six novels by the renowned writer Edmond Amran El Maleh, in partnership with the Foundation that bears his name and perpetuates his work. Around twenty studies, novels, and collections, including translations into Arabic and a collection in Tifinagh, are being published in partnership with Moroccan publishing houses.

Finally, and for the third consecutive year, the CCME will be present in a joint pavilion with five other governing bodies: the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE); the National Authority for Probity, Prevention and the Fight Against Corruption (INPPLC); the Competition Council (CC); the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HACA); and the National Commission for the Control of Personal Data Protection (CNDP). A
press conference is scheduled for Friday, May 1, at 11 a.m. at the pavilion, with the presidents of these institutions in attendance.

Since 2009, the CCME has hosted over 1,000 authors, thinkers, and creators from Morocco and around the world at its booth at the SIEL, affirming its ongoing commitment to books and writing about and by immigrants. This presence helps to highlight the intellectual contributions of Moroccans living abroad and their role in understanding migratory transformations and the cultural influence of Morocco and their countries of residence.

It supports the development of literature stemming from emigration, in a continuity that connects pioneering figures – Driss Chraïbi, Mohammed Khair-Eddine, Abdellatif LaSbi, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Edmond Amran El Maleh, among others – to new generations of authors, often born into immigrant communities, whose works reflect multiple identities and intersecting affiliations. This dynamic is also enriched by the rise of female voices, which occupy a centr
al place in the immigration novel, exploring memory, identity and social transformations, alongside a now multilingual writing style (French, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Catalan, English, German), reflecting the global dimension of the Moroccan diaspora.