Siham Benchekroun

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Siham Benchekroun is a Moroccan novelist and poet.

She was born in Fez and studied medicine at the University of Casablanca. When she had become a medical doctor and a pioneer in medical journalism, she was for twelve years the head of a press group specialising in health issues. She had various jobs: she was general secretary of the "Société marocaine d’étude de la douleur" (study of pain), president of the "Commission Santé", a sub-committee of the Morrocan association for the fight against corruption (Lutte contre la Corruption) and president of the group "Blouses blanches pour la Palestine". Parallel to her professional life Siham Benchekroun pursued her career as a writer.

Her first novel Oser Vivre was published in 1999 and was well received by a large audience. Oser vivre (Casablanca: Editions Eddif, 2002) tells the story of the heroine’s struggle to break free of an abusive husband and oppressive traditionalism which have relegated her to the domestic sphere and stripped her of her individuality. Benchekroun offers readers an in-depth view of what awaits many women who marry into traditional households. The heroine, Nadia, little by little is convinced that the only way to save her sanity is to renounce marriage and her children. She leaves everything behind to, in the end, embrace her liberty.

After "Oser Vivre" Siham Benchekroun published a collection of poems, called A Toi, and a collection of short stories, called Les jours d'ici.