Hassan Bahara

(1978, Morocco) is a writer and journalist (for among others Vrij Nederland and Nieuwe Revu) who grew up in Amsterdam. In 2006 his debut appeared, Een Verhaal uit de Stad Damsko, about the life of a young pupil from a migrant family, in the underprivileged part of Damsko, the Surinamese name for Amsterdam. De Volkskrant wrote: "Bahara is not yet thirty and made his debut last year with this novel, which is reminiscent of the De Avonden by Reve: the same oppressive desolation." Een Verhaal uit de Stad Damsko was nominated for the Selexyz Debuutprijs. Pollo de Pimentel, director of among other films De oesters van Nam Kee, has an option for the film rights. Bahara is working on a second novel. In 2000 and 2001, using a ps, he won the El Hizjra-literature prize for prose for young people to age 25.