On August 7, Naima El Bezaz, a Dutch writer of Moroccan origin committed suicide at the age of 46. She leaves, inconsolable, a husband and two children. The news of his sudden death sent shock waves through the literary world. It was another writer, Abdelkader Benali, who informed the public of this sad news on twitter. He also saluted his memory by proclaiming his intelligence and his brilliant mind. A fervent activist for freedom of expression, Naima was renowned for her outspokenness, her ultra-feminist positions and her very daring writing. She was saying out loud what people were saying quietly. Unfortunately, his audacity will not always have served him well. A native of Khenifra, she emigrated to Amsterdam around the age of 4 with her family. The precarious conditions in which she lived and the mockery at school about her North African origins push her to revolt against racism and discrimination. Very quickly, she puts her feelings and anger on paper. At the age of 21, she published her first novel, “La Route du Nord”, which will rank in the top 10 most bought books in the Netherlands. She then followed the powerful and poignant novels like “The beloved of Satan”, “The indexed”, “Le Syndrome de la Joie” or “Les Femmes de Vinex”. Of course, her notoriety has only grown over time, but her novels are disturbing because she deals with very sensitive subjects such as immigration, racism, sexuality, Islam, depression … Without taboo, Accepting her words, Naïma quickly ignites the conservative and extremist Arab community. Also evoking the misery in which she grew up, the difficulty of her dual culture, the hatred that her Dutch neighbors had for her and the drugs she was taking to forget all that… she ended up alienating even those close to her. “In the service of the devil”, published in 2013, will be the last book she will sign. Despite her quest for freedom and her need to make a difference, she will have to face criticism, insults and even death threats in the streets. So that she will end up plunging into a serious depression which will lead her to the psychiatric centers on numerous occasions. Multiplying cures and depressive episodes, the novelist has not managed to get out of it. And while she intended to return to the forefront of the cultural scene, we now learn that she has unfortunately ended her life. Destiny broken …
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