Horses and other doubts

by Mois Benarroch

Benarroch was born in 1959 in Tetuan/Morocco, between Tangier and Gibraltar. He grew up in a mixture of cultures and languages, Spanish being his mother tongue, attending a French school, hearing the Arabic of the streets and praying in Hebrew. In 1972 He emigrated to Israel and lives since then in Jerusalem. He has published 5 books of poetry and prose in Hebrew and one in Spanish. His poetry has been published in hundred of magazines all around the world.In his first collection of poems in English, "Horses And Other Doubts".Moshe Benarroch touches the themes of immigration, the confrontation with a new country, discrimination against minorities, Bukowski, Paris, Zionism, Israel, love, the family, poetry, poets and life in general. All the poems in this book appear for the first time in book form.In his omnivorous all encompassing poetry, he takes an honest approach, putting truth and honesty above everything. Hailed as one of the leading Israeli poets, Benarroch´s poetry has been published in a dozen languages, including Urdu and Chinese. Julia Uceda considers that Benarroch holds the memory of the world in his poetry, while Jose Luis Garcia Martin thinks that his poems are more than poetry, they are a document. A witness of his time, Benarroch started writing poetry when he was 15, in English, and has always written in his mother tongue Spanish. When he was 20 he also added Hebrew to his poetry languages and he has published six poetry books in Israel. This collection includes all Benarroch's poetry translated into English or written in English and all his books The Immigrant's Lament, Take Me To The Sea, Horses and Other Doubts, The Day The Jihad Destroyed Berlin, The Teachings Of Baraka. "If I had a nomination vote for the nobel prize he'd be in the running." Klaus Gerken, Ygdrasil editor. His reputation has been steadily growing and his books have been published in Spain, Israel and the U.S.A. He was awarded the prime minister literary prize in 2008 and the Yehuda Amichai poetry prize in 2012 "If I had a nomination vote for the nobel prize he'd be in the running." Klaus Gerken, Ygdrasil editor.Mois Benarroch, a poet true His words, they paint a world anew In every verse, a glimpse we find Of all the secrets left behind The rhythm of his words so pure They speak of life's enduring allure In every line, a story lies Of human truth, and all its ties Through Mois, we see the world anew The light and shadow, both in view And in his words, we find the way To move ahead, and not just stay For he portrays the world, so raw In every moment, every flaw For in the human heart he sees A beauty that cannot be seized So let us celebrate his art The charm he brings to every part For in his verse, we find the true Reflections of the world so blue.

115 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 3, 2013

About the author

Mois Benarroch is one of the most enigmatic figures in today's world literature. Born in Morocco, his writings are rooted in the country's landscapes and history; as a Sephardi Jew he travels the world of Jewish literature; and as in Israeli living in Jerusalem he incorporates the day to day life and politics of his country. A prolific novelist and poet who writes in three languages he never sets for one secure path and is always exploring new ways to make his literature a fresh one with a long time vision.
His poetry is one of compassion, social-political fight, and human. Multicultural by force, where others take multiculturalism as an idea, his life is forced to live within cultures. His novels take us from literary travel, to science-fiction, time travel back and forth, and a view that encompasses the past and the future, the relationships between Jews and Muslims, the life within cultures and the tragic fate of Christian-Jewish relations, always living a place for hope a belief in better days to come.

Known mainly as a poet in the English language world, thanks to a massive support from independent writers many of his novels are seeing light in English. Gates to Tangier, The Cathedral, Muriel, the Nobel Prize, Lucena, Raque Says (Something Entirely Unexpected), have been published in 2015 and many more are on their way in the next year.

A best-selling novelist in Spain, an award winning poet in Israel, and often featured in the bestselling list of poetry books sold in amazon, now is the time to discover this old new writer with more than 30 books to his name.

Mois Benarroch was born in 1959, and has been awarded with the prestigious Amichay poetry prize in 2012.



"GATES TO TANGIER/EN LAS PUERTAS DE TÁNGER is not primarily a critique of the marginalization of the Sephardim in Israel, but rather an exploration of the Moroccan component of Sephardic identity. The Benzimra's pilgrimage to Tangiers, however is not suggesting that this Moroccan component is the essence of Sephardic identity. Benarroch follows Khatibi's bilingual paradigm in suggesting that identity is expressed in the intersection of languages. At one point in the novel, Alberto reflects on the significance of his own bilingual écriture... Unlike Bendahan, who translates Sephardic identity as ultimately European, the Sephardic communities are after all "embajadas españolas" Benarroch explores the Moroccaness of Sephardic identity as it is rearticulated, deferred, by Spanish and Hebrew... The search for the missing brother represents the promise of a stable identity, a mirage that in EN EN LAS PUERTAS DE TÁNGER is constantly metamorphosing. Toward the end of the novel, we find out Yusuf was injured during his circumcision and the doctors decided to treat him with hormones transforming him into Zohra Elbaz. While in Tangiers, Zohra runs into Fortu/Messod and they spend the night together at fortu-Messod's hotel. Benarroch has Zohra run into not one, not two, but three Benzimra men."
Adolfo Campoy-Cubillo. Memories of the Maghreb: Transnational Identities in Spanish Cultural Production,




Mois Benarroch nació en Tetuán, Marruecos en 1959. A los trece años emigra con sus padres a Israel y desde entonces vive en Jerusalén. Empieza a escribir poesía a los quince años, en inglés, después en hebreo, y finalmente en su lengua materna, el castellano. Publica sus primeros poemas en 1979. En los años 80 forma parte de varios grupos de vanguardia y edita la revista Marot. Su primer libro en hebreo aparece en 1994, titulado "Coplas del inmigrante". Publica también dos libros de cuentos, varios libros de poemas en Hebreo , Inglés y Español, y cuatro novelas. En el 2008 es galardonado con el premio del primer ministro en Israel.
En España ha publicado el poemario "Esquina en Tetuán" (Esquío, 2000) y en 2005 la novela "Lucena" (Lf ediciones). En el 2008 la editorial Destino publica la novela "En Las Puertas De Tánger"que llegó al TOP5 en Kindle Espa