Paul Bowles passes away in Morocco

American writer Paul Bowles passed away this Thursday morning of heart and breathing problems in a hospital in the northern Moroccan city of Tangier, where he had chosen to live since 1970.

Bowles is famed for his "Tea In The Sahara" and "The Sheltering Sky" made into movies by Italian Director Bernardo Bertolucci. He greatly helped promote Moroccan writers in the United States and Europe through translation into English of tales, novels and autobios of Larbi Ayyachi, Ahmed Yakoubi, Mohamed Lamrabet and Mohamed Choukri.

He also drew an exhaustive inventory of the Atlas and Rif folklore songs and brotherhood music for the American Congress.

Bowles' other well-known works include "The Spider's House," a novel set in Fez during the early days of the Arab nationalist revolt in Morocco which eventually led to independence from France.