Diaspo #379 : Soufiane Chakkouche, the writer who migrated to publish a novel

Ya Biladi

09-03-2025

Born in Casablanca, writer Soufiane Chakkouche grew up in the Hermitage neighborhood until he was 15. From the large family home, he still holds the memory of a «happy childhood» with his two sisters, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. «We were called the Chakkouche tribe», he recalls, evoking a nurturing environment.
But things changed during his teenage years. «My father sent me to Marrakech when I was 15. It was a tough decision, but it was a way to let me choose my path, between becoming an independent person and building a life project, or dropping out of school and continuing down a wrong path. I lived in a small house, with a guard at the entrance and a well for water access, while attending Victor Hugo. It was a life lesson», the author confides, who was one of the guests at the third edition of the African Book Festival in Marrakech (FLAM), from January 30 to February 2, 2025.
«I could do whatever I wanted, I had all the time for myself. I learned to play music, wrote songs, poems, and letters, but I quickly burned them to prevent anyone from discovering my sensitive side, while I was sent to Marrakech to 'toughen up' and become a responsible young man!»
Soufiane Chakkouche
An Engineer with a Passion for Writing
It was this stay that sparked a change, as Soufiane Chakkouche «felt the power of words» while practicing epistolary writing. In high school, he became passionate about classic works, notably Voltaire's «Candide». After earning a science baccalaureate, he moved to France, where he obtained a dual degree in decision statistics engineering and civil engineering, at the University of Toulouse and in Canada.
In France, the academic stay wasn't easy. During the day, Soufiane Chakkouche attended his classes. After leaving the lecture hall, he headed to a Turkish kebab shop where he worked every evening, until late at night. «It was very hard to maintain this daily rhythm, but the most important result for which I left was achieved, and I was able to return to Morocco with my dual degree», the author tells us.
Before returning to his country, he worked in marketing and as a statistician for La Dépêche du Midi, where he created an optimization model for subscribers. «It was there that I had direct contact with the world of journalism, I saw the work of journalists and caught the bug», he declares. A few months later, Soufiane decided to return to Morocco.
«With the advent of the new reign of King Mohammed VI, I followed the movement of many of my compatriots abroad, who wanted to become and contribute to the national effort», recalls the author, who opened his civil engineering consulting office in Marrakech. A few years later, after engaging in a second business, he faced constraints that led him to abandon both projects and move towards new professional horizons.
It was then that Soufiane Chakkouche had a golden opportunity to return to writing, as part of a literary contest by the French Institute of Morocco. He contributed with a short story, «The Third Eye», inspired by childhood memories of his vacations in Tangier, intertwined with a fictional narrative set against a backdrop of a police investigation. The character of Inspector Dalil was born from this nationally selected contribution, and he would later become the protagonist of a series of detective novels that would make the writer known in Morocco, and then in France.
From Journalistic Writing to Crime Novels
In journalism, Soufiane Chakkouche joined the editorial team of Le Matin, where he learned the basics of the trade. «When I joined this publication, I wasn't a journalist. I was hired to write in the economy section, and I owe a lot to the team I had the pleasure of working with. I was supported from day one and have great gratitude towards all my former colleagues», he emphasizes.
Two years later, the author continued to expand his collaborations with other periodicals, including Les Eco, TelQuel, EcoNews, Industries du Maroc, Marrakech Mag, and 2M. He then joined ILCS as a teacher of journalistic writing.
Soufiane Chakkouche then had «an incredible chance to return to fiction». «Guillaume Jobin, then co-founder of Casa Express editions, proposed that I develop the character of Inspector Dalil, whom he appreciated from my first short story, into a novel», recalls the author, who didn't hesitate to accept the offer. In 2013, his book «Inspector Dalil in Casablanca«was released in bookstores.
Unprecedented in its genre, the crime novel featuring a Moroccan inspector in his country's context sold like hotcakes, reaching even newspaper stands. In 2019, the author published «Inspector Dalil in Paris» (ed. Jigal) in France, a finalist for the Grand Prize for Detective Literature, followed by «Inspector Dalil in Beirut» in 2022.
Each time, Soufiane Chakkouche makes sure to immerse himself in the environment where he sets his character in action, through trips he undertakes himself and considers an integral part of his creative process. But the undeniable success of his trilogy and the media enthusiasm in Morocco, and then in France, do not prevent him from keeping his feet on the ground. His vocation is to write books, without restricting himself to a specific genre.
Breaking Out of the Crime Novel Mold
Thus, parallel to his series featuring Inspector Dalil, Soufiane Chakkouche embarked on the manuscript of what would become his fourth novel, «Zahra» (ed. David), published in 2022. It is this work that drove him to migrate to Canada, in search of a publisher willing to publish it.
«I wrote this novel because I didn't want to be pigeonholed as a crime writer. I don't like boundaries, and for me, writing is meant to transcend the limits that some impose on it. I didn't want a label that doesn't suit me, as I always aspire to write something other than the books I've released so far».
Soufiane Chakkouche
Resolutely beyond the police investigation, this novel delves more into addressing social issues through the lens of literature in Morocco, notably the issue of underage girls working in homes, the subject of a broad legislative debate between 2015 and 2016. The book thus tells the story of Oumaya, a «little maid» who becomes pregnant after being raped by her employer, and who gives birth to Zahra.
While the young mother is sent back to her village, the daughter is raised as a young bourgeois, until destiny catches up with her.
Special mention by the jury of the Canadian Champlain Literary Prize for the novel Zahra, 2022Special mention by the jury of the Canadian Champlain Literary Prize for the novel Zahra, 2022
«I wanted to create a book for the Moroccan readership, which has been the largest to follow me so far. The idea was to share with them a work that addresses an issue in our society. Unfortunately, all Moroccan publishers refused to publish this book, which I initially proposed around 2016-2017. I never received any explanations».
Soufiane Chakkouche
Determined to have this novel published, he confides to us that he «emigrated for a book», to «see if it could find its place with a publisher elsewhere». «I had several offers to continue my literary projects in France, but by 2018, I already started to see that in terms of universal values, the country was no longer what it once was. So I opted for Canada», Soufiane Chakkouche tells us. «My journey has been marked by good encounters, after all», he exclaims.
Arriving in Ontario, in an English-speaking environment, the author first worked as a journalist at TFO in Toronto. He covered political and parliamentary news from Queen's Park. Meanwhile, he proposed «Zahra» to a publisher, who accepted it immediately. In the same year of its release, the book received a special mention from the jury of the Champlain Prize, then became a finalist for the Toronto Book Fair Prize and the first Moroccan author among the Trillium finalists.