Mohamed Choukri (1935-2003) is one of North Africa's most controversial and widely read authors. After a childhood of poverty and petty crime, Choukri learned how to read and write at the age of twenty. He then became a teacher and writer, finally being awarded the chair of Arabic Literature at Ibn Batuta College in Tangier. Paul Bowles is a distinguished writer and translator who is best known for his novel The Sheltering Sky.