Taher Bekri: Navigating Identity through Exile and Poetry

Taher Bekri is a Tunisian poet and intellectual originally from the coastal city of Gabès. Forced into exile in the 1970s, he built a life shaped by displacement, reflection and creativity. His poetry explores exile, belonging, cultural adaptation and the human condition.

Through his writing, Bekri examines the challenges of living away from home. At the same time, he connects his personal experiences to broader struggles shared by humanity. His journey from Tunisia to France, and from exile to poetic expression, extends beyond an individual story. It speaks to the experiences of displaced people and those searching for identity in an increasingly interconnected world.

Exile: the pain, the freedom and the poetry

Bekri’s exile was not a choice. In 1975, he was imprisoned in Tunisia for his political activism and opposition to the authorities. His views challenged the political status quo. This period marked a turning point in his life and preceded his departure for France.

“Exile was not a product of my imagination,” he reflects, recalling the circumstances that forced him to leave his homeland.

Bekri arrived in France in 1976, aged 25. He carried with him a profound sense of loss and longing for Tunisia. His early poems reflected these emotions, expressing the pain of separation from the country he loved.

“The first poems I wrote in France were marked by heavy nostalgia and deep sadness. One of them was titled My Country, the Wound.”

His first poetry collection, Le Laboureur du soleil (1983), captures the emotional weight of exile. The work reflects his grief over leaving Tunisia and the difficulty of rebuilding his life elsewhere.

“I was crossed by a feeling of pain for the country I left,” he says. “The country I loved.”

These words reveal the tension at the heart of Bekri’s experience: the pain of separation and the struggle to understand what it means to leave everything behind. Yet, with time, he began to develop a sense of resilience.

“Exile is a hard craft,” he states, echoing Nazim Hikmet’s sentiment, “but it must be lived with dignity.”

Through poetry, Bekri began to work through his pain. Rather than seeing exile as a defeat, he gradually came to view it as an opportunity for freedom and discovery.

“There was a kind of melancholy that had to be overcome, a daily struggle against the absence of those I love, a need to pull myself out of despair in order not to sink—to write, to live with dignity, and to consider exile as an act of freedom,” Bekri explains.

“Little by little, I had to free myself from this nostalgia and mature the poetic expression of exile into other forms, seeking a less direct expression,” he adds.

Over time, his poetry moved beyond raw melancholy towards transformation. Instead of simply mourning the past, he began to explore new perspectives and forms of expression. Exile became both a necessity and an act of liberation.

The duality of identity and the freedom of cultural mobility

Cultural identity is a central theme in Bekri’s work. While exile can leave people feeling caught between two worlds, he describes a different experience. For him, openness to other cultures has always been part of his identity.

“Even in Tunisia,” he says, “I always made sure to be open to other cultures.”

Moving to France did not change this outlook. Instead, it extended a worldview already shaped by cultural diversity. Bekri never saw this openness as a threat to his identity. He considers identity something that can evolve through encounters with other cultures.

“It posed no threat to my identity; on the contrary, identity mobility is richness and a necessity, countering what risks becoming immutable, closed, static, and, ultimately, doomed to disappear or wither away,” he reflects.

For Bekri, embracing other cultures does not mean abandoning his Tunisian roots. Rather, it allows him to deepen his understanding of himself and the world.

He also connects exile with movement, discovery and shared experiences. “Exile intertwines with wandering, travel, discovery, intersections, and shared connections,” he explains.

Bekri describes his desire to reverse the traditional direction of cultural exchange between North and South, turning it into a movement from South to North. This shift allows him to move beyond a fixed understanding of cultural memory.

For him, the journey between his homeland and other cultures has become an essential part of his writing. It represents an opening to the world and a sense of belonging that extends beyond national borders.

“I feel connected to all issues affecting humanity, wherever and whoever it may be,” he says.

Since the 1980s, Bekri has travelled extensively. These experiences have shown him both the diversity and the shared foundations of human life. Through poetry, he continues to explore the connections that bring people together across cultures and borders.

In fact, Bekri’s poetry reflects this fluid and evolving identity. As he moves between his homeland and his home in France, both places remain essential to who he is. “The world is wonderful,” he says. He believes it would be “unnatural” to love only one’s own landscape.

His collection Le Livre du souvenir reflects this openness to the world. For Bekri, every place has value, and every experience enriches human existence. His identity is neither confined to Tunisia nor fully absorbed by France. Instead, it exists in the space between them, where cultural diversity becomes a source of poetic inspiration.

From national memory to universal concerns: the politics of poetry

Although Bekri’s poetry is shaped by his experience of exile, it also engages with wider global concerns. He does not see poetry as a personal outlet for self-expression alone. Rather, it offers a way to confront injustice and reflect on the world’s struggles and achievements.

“Poetry is not just about exile,” he says. “It is called upon morning and night by the fury of the world, its intolerance, its injustice.” His words convey a deep sense of urgency.

For Bekri, poetry cannot exist in isolation from political and social realities. His work addresses the struggles that shape human experience, from the oppression of women in Tunisia to the violence of war and the arrogance of those in power.

“The poem,” he reflects, “is called upon to face the world’s violence, its tyranny, and its wars.” The poet, in his view, is more than a passive observer. Instead, the poet has a role in the pursuit of justice and freedom.

This sense of responsibility runs throughout Bekri’s work. His poems confront political violence while exploring fundamental questions about life, love and death.

“The poet’s role is to help navigate the darkness,” he says, “and bring light to it, like a lamp in the dark night.” As he speaks, his voice becomes quieter, reinforcing the image of poetry as a source of clarity and hope.

Tunisia in the rearview mirror: a changing perspective

Despite the distance, Bekri maintains a strong connection to Tunisia. His poetry continues to reflect the country’s struggles and achievements. However, his perspective has changed over time.

“The last time I visited Tunisia was in 2019,” he says. He expresses concern about the country’s political climate, particularly the threats to its modernity, women’s rights and social progress.

“The fight for Enlightenment is a duty against the dark forces that want to pull our country backwards,” he declares.

Bekri also criticises the growing influence of conservative forces. He believes they are undermining earlier progress and encouraging nostalgia for what many call العهد الجميل (the good old days).

Yet, he argues, this longing is rooted in disappointment with the recent past rather than a distant historical era. “The present is bleak, filled with all kinds of prohibitions,” he says.

He sees this atmosphere as a source of public disillusionment. “There is no enthusiasm, and it pushes the individual to indifference and disenchantment. This defeat is serious.”

His concerns go beyond political criticism. Bekri wants Tunisia to move forward while preserving the most progressive aspects of its culture and history. His poetry reflects this tension between affection for his homeland and frustration with its current direction. Tunisia remains a place of beauty and belonging, but also one where resistance and the defence of freedom remain necessary.

A message to the exiled: poetry as light in the darkness

Despite the personal, political and artistic challenges he has faced, Bekri offers a message of hope to those living in exile.

“Exile is not a rule,” he says. “It is an experience that poetry tries to translate through human emotions.”

For him, poetry helps people make sense of displacement and the uncertainty that comes with it. Through language, experiences of loss and separation can become opportunities for reflection and understanding.

“Poetry is a quest,” he explains, “a need to dissipate the darkness and to bring clarity, much like a lamp lighting the dark night.”

His work invites readers, whether they have experienced exile or not, to reflect on their own lives. It encourages them to seek meaning, recognise beauty and remain open to the world around them.

Ultimately, Taher Bekri’s poetry reflects the resilience of the human spirit. His life, shaped by exile, loss and longing, has become a journey of transformation expressed through words.

His work crosses borders and speaks to anyone who has experienced displacement or struggled to find a sense of belonging. By giving voice to the realities of exile, Bekri also offers a vision of hope and resistance. His poetry suggests that, even in a divided and troubled world, literature can help people move towards greater understanding,