Youssef Fadel (born 1949) is a Moroccan novelist and playwright.
He participated in leftist cultural and political circles starting in the 1960s and was imprisoned by the Moroccan government in the 1980s in the infamous Moulay al-Sheriff prison, during the notorious Years of Lead.
His debut play, The Barber in the Poor District, was turned into a film by Mohamed Reggab in 1982.
[4][2] His career has reached international acclaim, with coverage in literary forums such as The New Yorker and The Massachusetts Review.
[5][3] Jorge Aguadé published a study of the diglossic language used in Fadel's works in "Des romans diglossiques: le cas de Youssef Fadel" (Cadiz University, Cadiz, Spain).