The Olive Writers

The Olive Writers Staff

  The Olive Writers Staff

 
Mohammed EL WAHABI
Executive Director
mohammed@olivewriters.org

Mohammed El Wahabi founded The Olive Writers in 2016, inspired by his experience at the Between The Lines youth writing program. El Wahabi is the winner of two national short story contests, and his work has been published in Arabic and English at Borderless, Yarakat, and elsewhere. The co-founder of Lotus Association for Culture and Creativity, El Wahabi also served on the Youth Advisory Council of World Oceans Day (The Ocean Project) and the Morocco Library Project. El Wahabi has worked with the U.S. Embassy to coordinate the IWP Lines & Spaces tour. In 2017, El Wahabi was named a Stanford AMENDS Fellow at the University of Oxford, where he is a member of the Arts and Culture Committee.
     
Hiba Bikisse
Events & Communications Coordinator
hiba@olivewriters.org 
Hiba Bikisse is an olive writers’ alumna and an MA student at ENCG Tangier, where she pursues International Trade. Hiba has served as club coordinator at ASEM club for two years, and is the co-founder of the khidmaty project- a platform that links jobbers with their respective clients/niche. During her three years in college-where she built her experience working with NGOs and clubs- she explored her passion for project management and helping people in need, which is why she likes to combine between the two by working on similar projects that offer new opportunities for the youth of Morocco.
 
     
Soukaina Habiballah 
Creative Writing
Instructor
Soukaina HabibAllah is a Moroccan poet and novelist. She has published four books of poetry, including [A Quarter Century of Sight] (2014), [There Is No Need for You] (2015) and [Five Wingless Butterflies] (2016), as well as a novel, [The Barracks] (2016), and a short story collection [Maybe tomorrow] (2021),. She was a recipient of the Buland al-Haidari prize for young poets, an Arab Fund for Arts and Culture grant, an al-Mawred al-Thaqafy grant and the Nadeen Chamss Prize. In 2017, HabibAllah participated in a reading tour sponsored by the Turkish Ministry of Culture. Her poetry has been translated into French, English, German, Spanish and Montenegrin. In 2019, Soukaina HabibAllah attended the prestigious international Writing Program's Fall Residency at the University of Iowa in the U.S.A
 
Seddik Jelouane
Project Coordinator
seddik@olivewriters.org

Seddik Jelouane is a Moroccan poet and author, he holds a BA in English Literature and is an Olive Writers alumnus. Seddik is the founder of Moroccan Poets, as well as Dar America’s Poetry Club. His prior experiences circle around leading poetry workshops, moderating book events, and coordinating community service programs. Seddik Jelouane was recognized and celebrated by the US Embassy as a brilliant talent on World Poetry Day in 2021.


 
Mohannad Thwib
Project Coordinator 
mohannad@olivewriters.org
 

Mohannad Thwib is a Palestinian writer and journalist. He holds a BA in Arabic Literature from Al-Quds University, and an MA in Literature, Creativity and Criticism from Moulay Ismail University in Meknes. Between 2018 and 2019, he worked at the Palestinian Ministry of Culture. Prior to that, he worked at the Media Center of An-Najah University, and as a writer for the Al-Istiqlal Cultural Platform. During his studies at Al-Quds University, he established the university's first cultural forum. Thwib has published two collections of poetry and dozens of articles in Arab newspapers, magazines, and journals. He is a graduate of the Olive Writer Summer Program 2021.

Steering Committee 
To assist with our work of providing the best programming possible to our community, we are proud the have the support and help of our Steering Committee, donating their time and expertise to our organization. 
Hasna Jabir
Chef of Cultural Projects, K&Co
Salma Takky 
      Program Officer, FHI 

      Haytham Chhilif 
       Web Developer