"I've just heard that Moroccan author Mohammed Choukri passed away this weekend at his home in Tangier. A contemporary and friend of Jean Genet, Tennessee Williams, Paul Bowles (with whom he later had a falling out), and others, Choukri is probably best known for his semi-autobiographical novel Al-Khubz Al-Hafi, which dealt with famine in the 1940s and his experiences with drugs, homosexuality, and prostitution.
I guess I need to add Choukri to my list of people to read. It's not the first time I've heard his name, but I'm sorry to learn about him because of his death.