Literatureמואיז בן הראש

Mois Benarroch

Mois Benarroch is a Moroccan-born Israeli poet, novelist and translator who writes in Hebrew, Spanish and English.

born 1959Mizrahi Hebrew poetryThe Immigrant's LamentNovels on Moroccan Jewish lifeLiterary translation into Hebrew

Born: 7 October 1959, Tétouan
Occupation: poet, writer
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mois Benarroch was born in 1959 in Tétouan

Mois Benarroch was born in Tétouan, Morocco, in 1959. Spanish was his mother tongue. In 1972 he moved with his family to Israel.

He studied physics, mathematics, English literature and Spanish and Latin American studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He first wrote poetry in English, then translated it into Hebrew, and later wrote in Hebrew directly.

His first poems appeared in 1979 in the army newspaper Bamahane, during his military service. In the 1980s his poems appeared in several literary journals, and from 1981 to 1986 he co-founded and edited the Jerusalem journal Mar'ot. He once worked in natural medicine and bookkeeping, and later focused on writing and translation.

His first book, the novel Read Me!, came out in 1993, and his poetry book The Immigrant's Lament followed in 1994. His books deal with the Moroccan diaspora, Israel and Judaism, and relations between Jews, Muslims and Christians. He has translated poetry and prose by writers such as Charles Bukowski and Pablo Neruda into Hebrew, and he has criticized the Israeli literary establishment.