Description:

The Center for the Writing Arts is honored to have Driss Ksikes as the first Visiting-Writer-in-Residence to teach the ART OF PLAYWRITING

Writing a contemporary work of fiction about a medieval philosopher doesn't mean writing a historical novel. What is it then? Recounting my auto-bibliographical, sense-making journey in writing my last novel, Au Détroit d'Averroès [or At the Straits of Averroes], I'll try to address a literary genre issue (the distinctions and lack of distinctions between essay, fiction, documentary fiction). Beyond that, I will describe a creative writing process. This talk will also be an a posteriori reflection on the reception and discussion of rational legacies by three Moroccan generations (my elders’, my own and my daughter's).

Driss Ksikes is professor at HEM Business School (Morocco) of media, culture and creative writing..Previously editor of TelQuel, he is since 2007 managing Director of the CESEM (HEM Business School’s research center) and editor of Economia, its main electronic review journal. Literary critic, he is playwright, novelist and essay writer, co-author of “Le métier d’intellectuel” (Presses de l’Université Citoyenne, Ed. En toutes lettres, 2014), for which he has been awarded Grand Atlas Prize in 2015. His theatre writings comprise Pas de mémoire, mémoire de pas (1998), Le saint des incertains (2000), Il (2008), 180 degrés (2010), N'enterrez pas trop vite Big Brother (2013). He was selected by National Studio Theatre in London in 2012 among six best african playwrights, and nominated in 2014 as the best francophone playwright. Culturally active, he is the co-founder of Averroes encounters in Rabat since 2009 and initiator of citizen theatrical experiences.