Mohammed Mrabet

1940, Algery

Mohammed Mrabet made the first of his three trips to the United States in 1960. The country made no lasting impression on him. A fisherman and son of a pastry-cook at the Minzah Hotel, he was a true citizen of the world, Arab–gentleman style, dark-eyed and fiery-tongued. Smoking the local kif made this 20-year-old lad red-hot.

In 1965, he met Paul Bowles, who started recording and transcribing his tales. Thanks to Paul Bowles, Mrabet the illiterate frequented Tennessee Williams, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allan Ginsberg, Jean Genet, Brion Gysin and many more; protagonists of the next generation.