The Arch and the Butterfly

Mohammed Achaari (born 1951 in Moulay Driss Zerhoun, Morocco) is a Moroccan poet, novelist, and former politician who served as Minister of Culture from 1998 to 2007 and president of the Moroccan Union of Writers (1989–1996). He is best known for his novel The Arch and the Butterfly (2010), which jointly won the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (Arabic Booker Prize), and has published numerous poetry collections, short stories, and another novel South of the Soul (1996); he also received the 2022 Argana International Poetry Prize.