An International Writers Conference at La Maison de Tanger
Jan 14, 2025
Hey,
I hope you’re doing well! It’s early on Monday morning as I just recently woke up to the sounds of early morning birds, probably—or hopefully, should I say—being joyful about the hope of a new dawn over Tangier. I’m still in my bed with a coffee in hand while listening to Carla Bozulich’s Quieter album, looking out the window in my room at La Maison de Tanger, enjoying the first rays of daylight shyly coming through. One of our beautiful garden suites ended up being free last night, so I literally jumped at the opportunity to enjoy it for a night after what has been such an inspiring and unforgettable day here!
One of the very first things we did upon arriving in Tangier for the very first time, after realizing there were no record stores here, was to visit the libraries! Tangier, home to so many writers over the centuries, always faithful in inspiring and moving into unexpected directions, was true to itself yesterday. But this time, which was some kind of a dream coming true for Alex and me, it happened at home, at La Maison!
Everyone told her she’d go bankrupt within a year, she told us, and here she is now, outshining and transcending her own dream by reaching a worldwide audience. What she created is above and beyond selling books; it’s about welcoming authors, speakers, and poets around wonderful gatherings.
The first time we walked into the library Les Insolites, which was opened 15 years ago by an incredible French lady named Stephanie, in an area that was then dark and home to the late-night junkies, prostitutes, and decadence seekers. Everyone told her she’d go bankrupt within a year, she told us, and here she is now, outshining and transcending her own dream by reaching a worldwide audience. What she created is above and beyond selling books; it’s about welcoming authors, speakers, and poets around wonderful gatherings where people can share, learn, discover, and fill their curiosity thirst with the life experience of others, and all of this, here, in Tangier.
It didn’t take long for Alex and Stephanie to become real good friends, sharing about writers and poets and exchanging books of all kinds, eras, authors, and topics. Life can be so rich when you have such a friend! This is why when Stephanie approached us asking if we could host the last day of her three-day conference around her library’s 15th anniversary. We all agreed in no time, since this is something Alex and I wanted to do for so long!
BRIDGE THE MARGINS
The entire celebration happened under this wonderful theme. Stephanie gathered library owners, publishers, and writers from France, Egypt, England, Canada, Haiti, and, of course, Morocco, all sharing about the fine lines between racism and discrimination, immigration, colonialism, freedom, and how to activate change peacefully in such a chaotic world where the distance between the margins is expanding at an alarming pace.
It simply was so beautiful to hear and witness people of all ages and backgrounds being so eager and proactively engaged in a daily commitment to live and embrace life as citizens of the world here, at La Maison de Tanger, in Morocco. For Alex, who is a writer involved in sending letters to prisoners with Amnesty International, a speaker for so many youth congresses about his youth violent background, and for whom music, art, and a journey to Haïti changed everything, to welcome such a vibrant event that ended up transcending us all and that made us realize even more deeply how much conversations and dialogues are crucial in our actual world was nothing but life changing.
I didn’t agree with everything I heard yesterday, but it doesn’t matter, as long as we can share, speak, exchange, grow, and all seek greatness, freedom, peace, and dignity.
A light too bright to hide! This is what conversations give birth to; this is what saying hi to a stranger allows.
We are in a world where loneliness is gathering its own dark kingdom, where things like social media and AI are simply isolating us, separating us, building distance between those margins, radicalizing us, where open conversations and open dialogues are less and less present and replaced by violence, exclusion, and discrimination of all kinds. I didn’t agree with everything I heard yesterday, but it doesn’t matter, as long as we can share, speak, exchange, grow, and all seek greatness, freedom, peace, and dignity.
A light too bright to hide! This is what conversations give birth to; this is what saying hi to a stranger allows. Inside everyone is a great shout of joy waiting to be born. To me, life is a creative, intimate, and unpredictable conversation, spoken or unspoken, and our life is the result of the particular way we hold that passionate conversation. Inviting, welcoming, listening, and caring are all incredible actions I’m hoping to dedicate more of my time and energy to as we’re still in the early days of 2025…
Let’s be great to one another!
Your Host and Friend,
Jeff
PS: Thank you all for the incredible questions you so generously sent me. Alex and I have been quite busy lately, and I’m leaving for Eurosonic this Tuesday, so we'll film this Open Conversation next week! Feel free to send more!
