Morocco's Abdulkader Al Shawi Writes a Story for Himself

Morocco's Abdulkader Al Shawi Writes a Story for Himself
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Morocco's Abdulkader Al Shawi Writes a Story for Himself

Morocco's Abdulkader Al Shawi Writes a Story for Himself

Le Fennec Publications has released a new book by Moroccan writer Abdulkader Al Shawi. The book is, as described by the writer, a self-visualization entitled “Al Tayhaa.”

On the book's back cover, Al Shawi wrote: “My guide in this book is clear. I mean I wrote it without planning or organization. There weren't any precedencies that made me chose. My incentives are so foggy. I know that the reader won't blame me if I told him that I wrote this story to myself to narrate its writing isolation. Therefore, in the final pages, I found myself totally convinced with what I wrote in the first pages – with the introduction I didn't write. The conclusion of this conviction is, and I am quoting Manuel Alberca here: ‘This is me, and not me. I resemble to myself but I am not me. But, be careful, because I might be me.’”

Commenting on the book, critic and translator Ibrahim Al Khatib noted that it is not a narrative or critical text, or a political analysis, but a “recurrence of a writing record recalling past memories, approaching the lives of some writers and examining their ups and downs, along with exploring the backgrounds of many positions and meetings. It also investigates the contexts of some of the writer's published books, or looks into the emotional resonance of various trips he had embarked on.”

“The book features a foreword, which, according to the writer, is not an introduction. But it reviews the background of writing about the past, in which the writer wonders about the connection between writing and lying and honesty, and its association with the time of writing, which is now,” added Al Khatib.

“The book features independent paragraphs with no titles or punctuations that separate their spaces. Their order is not chronological, as indicated by the dispersed dates and the non-organization of the narrated facts.”

Al Khatib noticed that the book, with its diverse material, is a “back and forth trip in the life of Abdulkader Al Shawi and its major events, that extend from his childhood in Bab Taza, his education in Tétouan then in Rabat, before starting his career in Casablanca, his pursuit of politics and writing.” It also takes “a look at the writer's relationships record, and the list of his friendships known for their geographical richness, whether in Morocco or abroad.” The book can be described as a “sequel or a narrative addition to his memories and readings.”

Al Shawi was jailed for 15 years, between 1974 and 1989, because of his political activity, before serving as the Moroccan ambassador to Chile. He wrote and published his first poetic texts, stories and literary articles in Moroccan and Arabic magazines and newspapers in 1968. Then, he published many works about literary and intellectual studies, in addition to many narrative works he debuted in 1986 with “Kan wa Akhawataha,” followed by “Dalil Al Onfowan” (1989), “Bab Taza” (1994), “Al Saha al Sharafiya” (1999), “Dalil al Mada” (2003), “Man Qal Ana” (2006), “Boustan al Sayida” (2018) and “Marabe' al Salwan” (2020).



Dutch Art Sleuth Recovers Stolen Trove of UNESCO-listed Documents

This handout photograph obtained on July 8, 2025, courtesy of Arthur Brand shows Dutch art detective Arthur Brand posing with stolen documents from the 15th to the 19th century, including several UNESCO-listed archives from the world's first multinational corporation Dutch East India Company (VOC), in Amsterdam on June 24, 2025. (Photo by ARTHUR BRAND / AFP)
This handout photograph obtained on July 8, 2025, courtesy of Arthur Brand shows Dutch art detective Arthur Brand posing with stolen documents from the 15th to the 19th century, including several UNESCO-listed archives from the world's first multinational corporation Dutch East India Company (VOC), in Amsterdam on June 24, 2025. (Photo by ARTHUR BRAND / AFP)
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Dutch Art Sleuth Recovers Stolen Trove of UNESCO-listed Documents

This handout photograph obtained on July 8, 2025, courtesy of Arthur Brand shows Dutch art detective Arthur Brand posing with stolen documents from the 15th to the 19th century, including several UNESCO-listed archives from the world's first multinational corporation Dutch East India Company (VOC), in Amsterdam on June 24, 2025. (Photo by ARTHUR BRAND / AFP)
This handout photograph obtained on July 8, 2025, courtesy of Arthur Brand shows Dutch art detective Arthur Brand posing with stolen documents from the 15th to the 19th century, including several UNESCO-listed archives from the world's first multinational corporation Dutch East India Company (VOC), in Amsterdam on June 24, 2025. (Photo by ARTHUR BRAND / AFP)

A Dutch art sleuth has recovered a priceless trove of stolen documents from the 15th to the 19th century, including several UNESCO-listed archives from the world's first multinational corporation.

Arthur Brand, nicknamed the "Indiana Jones of the Art World" for his high-profile recovery of stolen masterpieces, said the latest discovery was among his most significant.

"In my career, I have been able to return fantastic stolen art, from Picassos to a Van Gogh... yet this find is one of the highlights of my career," Brand told AFP.

Many of the documents recount the early days of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), whose globetrotting trading and military operations contributed to the Dutch "Golden Age", when the Netherlands was a global superpower.

The 17th century VOC documents contain a "fascinating glimpse into the events of that time in places like Europe, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Latin America," said Brand.

One document from 1602 recounts the first meeting of the VOC, during which its famous logo -- considered the world's first corporate logo -- was designed.

VOC merchants criss-crossed the globe, catapulting the Netherlands to a world trading power but also exploiting and oppressing the colonies it conquered.

The company was also a leading diplomatic power and one document relates a visit in 1700 by top VOC officials to the court of the Mughal emperor in India.

"Since the Netherlands was one of the most powerful players in the world at that time in terms of military, trade, shipping, and colonies, these documents are part of world history," said Brand.

UNESCO agrees, designating the VOC archives as part of its "Memory of the World" documentary heritage collection.

"The VOC archives make up the most complete and extensive source on early modern world history anywhere," says UNESCO on its website.

The trove also featured early ships logs from one of the world's most famous admirals, Michiel de Ruyter, whose exploits are studied in naval academies even today.

De Ruyter gained fame for his daring 1667 raid to attack the English fleet in the River Medway, one of the greatest humiliations in world naval history.

The ship's logs, written in his own hand, relate the admiral's first experience of naval warfare, the 1641 Battle of St Vincent against the Spanish fleet.

No less enthralling is the "who-dunnit" of how Brand came by the documents.

Brand received an email from someone who had stumbled across a box of seemingly ancient manuscripts while clearing out the attic of an incapacitated family member.

This family member occasionally lent money to a friend, who would leave something as collateral -- in this case the box of documents.

"I received some photos and couldn't believe my eyes. This was indeed an extraordinary treasure," Brand told AFP.

Brand investigated with Dutch police and concluded the documents had been stolen in 2015 from the vast National Archives in The Hague.

The main suspect -- an employee at the archives who had indeed left the box as collateral but never picked it up -- has since died.

Brand compared the theft to a daring heist by a curator at the British Museum, who spirited away some 1,800 objects, selling some of them on eBay.

The art detective said he spent many an evening sifting through the documents, transported back in time.

"Wars at sea, negotiations at imperial courts, distant journeys to barely explored regions, and knights," he told AFP.

"I felt like I had stepped into Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island."