num_pages: 164
description: In his early twenties Choukri takes the momentous decision to learn to read and write, and joins a children's class at the local state school in Tangier.When not at school he hangs out in cafés, drinking and smoking kif. Some nights he sleeps in a doss-house, but mostly he sleeps in mosques or on the street.He befriends many 'lowlife' characters, while the café habitués help him with his Arabic and the local prostitutes take him home, providing some human solace.Choukri's determination to educate himself, and his compassion for those with whom he shares his life on the streets is heartfelt and inspirational.Mohamed Choukri is one of North Africa's most controversial and widely read authors. After a childhood of poverty and petty crime, Choukri learned how to read and write at the age of twenty, after a bout in prison. He then became a teacher and writer, finally being awarded the chair of Arabic Literature at Ibn Batuta College in Tangier.Choukri died of cancer in 2003 at the age of sixty-four. His life is now captured in a film where Choukri himself makes a brief appearance.
language: English
title: Streetwise
titlecomplete: Streetwise
genres: African Literature, Morocco, Fiction, Africa, Literature, Novels, Moroccan
ratings_count: 1450
series: السيرة الذاتية
publisher: Telegram Books