Najat El Hachmi
Najat El Hachmi Buhhu was born in Morocco and from the age of eight she has lived in Vic. She has a degree in Arab Studies from the University of Barcelona. She has been writing since she was eleven, at first for fun, but gradually her writing became a way of channeling her unease and a way of approaching the two worlds to which she belonged. Her first novel L'últim Patriarca (Planeta '08) won the Ramon Llull Prize in 2008 and was shortlisted for the Prix Méditerranée Étranger 2009.
An excerpt from The Last Patriarch By Najat El Hachmi Translated from the Catalan by Peter Bush
By Najat El Hachmi and Peter BushThis is the story of Mimoun, son of Driouch, son of Allal, son of Mohammed, son of Mohand, son of Bouziane, whom we shall simply call Mimoun. It is his story and the story of the last of the great patriarchs who make up the long chain of Driouch’s forbears. Every single one lived, acted and intervened in the lives of those around them as firmly as the great figures in the Bible.
