Mohammed Khammar Kanouni

Who was Mohammed Khammar Kanouni?

Mohammed Khammar Kanouni or Guenouni was one of the three most important poets of Morocco in the 1960s. Together with Ahmed Mejjati and Mohamed Serghini he represented a generation of change. His poetry represents the transition between writers before and after Moroccan independence. He is considered one of the fathers of the poets who broke through in the eighties.

His poems were first published in the French anthology of Moroccan poetry La Memoire future. His poems were regularly published in the cultural supplement of the daily newspaper Al-'Alam.

Kanouni grew up in Larache, received his PhD from the university in Rabat in 1974 and worked for Moroccan national radio and as a teacher at secondary schools and university.

Some of his poems were translated by Abdellatif Laabi and published in La poesía marroquí: de la independencia a nuestros días, Santa Cruz de Tenerife:Idea, 2006.