Malika Mezzane is a Moroccan poet, a writer, and a Berber rights activist.

Career

Mezzane studied in Fez where she earned a BA degree in philosophy from

Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University (; ) is a university in Fez city, Morocco, which was founded in 1975. It is named for Mohammed ben Abdallah. In 2022, the ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' rated Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah ...

. She is a former Philosophy teacher. She has published 17 works in 22 publications, in 2 languages. In 1992 she travelled to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, where she resided for nine years until 2001, during which time she devoted herself to writing on a regular basis, committed to defending human rights in general and those of

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

i immigrants in particular. In July 2018, she met the president of

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

Masoud Barzani Masoud Barzani (; born 16 August 1946) is a Kurdish politician who has been leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979, and was President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from 2005 to 2017. Early life and career Barzani was bo ...

. She is also a supporter of the state of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and has been outspoken on their right to be in "their homeland".

Publications

Poetry

Mezzane has written several collections of poems in Arabic: * ''Geneva, the other maze'' (2004) * ''If only I could forgive this world'' (2005) * ''If my exile is completed in you'' (2005) * ''When the dead promised us'' (2006)

Novels

In 2019, she wrote her first novel "ما أصعب ألا أراك", in which she supports the unification of the

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

under a single state.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mezzane, Malika Berber activists 21st-century Moroccan writers Living people 1960 births Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University alumni 21st-century Moroccan women writers 21st-century Moroccan poets Moroccan women poets Berber women writers Berber poets Moroccan Berbers Moroccan Berber women 21st-century novelists Moroccan novelists Moroccan women novelists