Moris Farhi

Musa Moris Farhi MBE (5 July 1935 – 5 March 2019) was a Turkish author who was vice-president of International PEN from 2001 to his death in 2019. Profile Farhi was born to a Sephardic Jewish family in Ankara, Turkey, in 1935. He received a B.A. in humanities from Robert Academy, Istanbul, in 1954. He came to the UK in the same year and trained at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1956 and settling in London. After a brief career as an actor, he took up writing. He wrote several novels, including Children of the Rainbow and Journey through the Wilderness. Children of the Rainbow received two prizes: the “Amico Rom” from the Associazione Them Romano of Italy (2002); and the “Special” prize from the Roma Academy of Culture and Sciences in Germany (2003). The French edition of Young Turk (Jeunes Turcs) received the 2007 Alberto Benveniste Prize for Literature. His poems have appeared in many British, US and European publications and in the anthology of 20th-century Jewish poets, Voices Within the Ark (Avon, US, 1979). He also published short stories in anthologies and magazines in the UK, the US and Poland. He wrote many television scripts such as The Onedin Line 1972 episode "Beyond the Upper Sea"; a film, The Primitives; and a stage play, From The Ashes of Thebes. Farhi's essay, "The Courage To Forget", appeared in Index on Censorship (Vol. 24, No. 2, 2005). "God Save Us From Religion", is included in the collection, Free Expression is No Offence (edited by Lisa Appignanesi, published by Penguin Books, 2005). "All History is the History of Migration", given at the "Know Your Place?" Conference in November 2005, was also published by Index on Censorship in 2006. Farhi's works have been translated into Arabic, Dutch, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Romanian and Turkish.