Mohammed Benzakour (born 10 January 1972 in

Nador Nador () is a coastal city and provincial capital in the northeastern Rif region of Morocco with a population of about 158,202 (2024 census). The Nador Province has over 600,000 inhabitants. Nador is considered the second largest city in the Ori ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

) is a Moroccan-Dutch columnist, essayist, poet, writer and politician. He is the third child in a family of five. At age three, he and mother and siblings settle in

Zwijndrecht, Netherlands Zwijndrecht () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, at the southern tip of the island of IJsselmonde, and at the confluence of the rivers Oude Maas, Beneden-Merwede, and Noord. Popula ...

, where his father worked. He graduated from high school at vwo level and studied sociology at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

and later

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and moved to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

to finish his master. Meanwhile, he joined the Labour Party. He started his journalism career working for ''

De Volkskrant ''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...

'' and also published in ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by Mediahuis NRC. It is widely regarded as a newspaper of record in the country. History was first published on 1 October 1970 after a merger of the Amst ...

'', ''

De Groene Amsterdammer ''De Groene Amsterdammer'' () is an independent Dutch weekly news magazine published in Amsterdam. It is one of the five independent opinion magazines in the Netherlands, alongside '' HP/De Tijd'', '' Vrij Nederland'', ''Elsevier'' and the Jewish ...

'' and ''

Vrij Nederland ''Vrij Nederland'' (Free Netherlands) is a Dutch magazine, established during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II as an underground newspaper. It has since grown into a magazine. The originally weekly turned monthly magazin ...

''. He received the ASN Media Prize in 1999 and the Silver Zebra in 2001 for insights in a 'society in motion'. He later published two books, ''Abou Jahjah: Nieuwlichter of Oplichter. De demonisering van een politiek rebel'' in 2004 and ''Osama's Grot, Allah, Holland en ik'', a compilation of his columns, articles and essays from 2001 until 2005, the year of publication. In that same year he also won the Peace Prize for Journalism. In 2008 his 'Stinkende Heelmeesters' was published, a compilation of essays, reviews, columns and reports from 2001 to 2008. In March 2014 he won the 2013 E. Du Perronprijs with his non-fictional novel ''Yemma'', about his mother. The jury writes. "His observations and feelings that come to him are both socially and general and personal and intimate. He makes his documentary a literary achievement of the first order." Benzakour gave the 2014 Mosse Lecture, titled ''HoMa: Zwierige redder in nood'' (''HoMa: Graceful lifesaver'').

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benzakour, Mohammed 1972 births Living people Dutch columnists Dutch essayists Dutch journalists Dutch Muslims Dutch people of Riffian descent Dutch male poets Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Leiden University alumni Moroccan emigrants to the Netherlands Moroccan writers Moroccan columnists Moroccan essayists Moroccan journalists Berber poets People from Zwijndrecht, Netherlands People from Nador Dutch male essayists