Dutch-Moroccan novelist Hafid Bouazza dies aged 51

Moroccan-Dutch writer and novelist Hafid Bouazza died on Thursday aged 51 in Amsterdam. According to his editor Querido, the writer had been suffering from health issues for some time, write Volkskrant and NOS.

Born in Oujda, he was considered a representative of «migrant literature» in the Netherlands. He immigrated to the Netherlands at the end of 1977 with his family. He grew up in Arkel, South Holland. 

In 1996, Hafid Bouazza debuted his career as a writer with his first collection of short stories «De voeten van Abdullah». With this collection, he won the E. du Perron Prize, awarded by the Municipality of Tilburg to those who commit to «promoting mutual understanding and good relations between population groups living in the Netherlands».

With his novel Paravion (2003) on the life of three generations in a Moroccan village, the writer won the Belgian De Gouden Uil Prize in 2004. The book was also nominated for the AKO Literature Prize. Bouazza, known to be «critical of Islam», was also open about his alcohol and drug use and struggled with drug addiction for years.

His last novel was published in 2014, under the title Meriswin, while he was still working on a novel to be published by Hollands Diep.