Moroccan writer and painter of Rifian origin, was born in Tangier in 1936. Like many teenagers of the time, Mohamed Mrabet preferred freedom of the streets to the discipline of home. By not studying, he began to earn a living as a caddy, fisherman, boxer, bartender. He worked for a time in the USA and, on his return to Tangier in 1960, he met Paul Bowles. From this close friendship was born a literary collaboration that lasted until 1992 with the publication of thirteen books, all of them transcribed by Bowles from tapes recorded by Mrabet in dialect Arabic, in which he told the stories heard in cafes and that from his childhood they had fascinated him. Mohamed Mrabet currently resides in Tangier.