«Akayeb Denya» : Between Darija and classical Arabic, Maati Kabbal tells stories that feel

«Akayeb Denya» is the latest Arabic-language short story collection by Maati Kabbal, published by La Croisée des Chemins in partnership with the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME). In this new work, the author explores what he describes as the «dictatorship of the heart», an emotional force that imposes its own imagined boundaries of belonging.

The collection is distinguished by its deeply sensitive writing, inviting readers to reflect on the «irony of the common person’s helplessness» when confronted with life’s abstractions and its «social, existential, and cultural tools».

The stories offer a fluid and engaging reading experience, moving effortlessly between literary Arabic and Darija, with language that captures the full range of human emotion: dreaming, loving, protesting, laughing, suffering, and weeping.

Maati Kabbal, a philosophy professor by training, has written for Le Courrier International and served as a literary critic for Libération in France. He also played a key role in organizing the Thursday gatherings and coordinating historical programming at the Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris.