our story
Our Story
Who We Are
Born from urgency: Agafay Books was born from a simple, urgent observation. Moroccan children deserve to see themselves in the books they read.
A mirror that reflects: For too long, a Moroccan child has opened a book hoping to be met, only to find a mirror that reflects nothing back. To belong to the story, she must first imagine herself as someone else.
More than representation: This is not just a question of diversity on a shelf. It is a question of what a child learns to believe about herself and about the world she inhabits.
What We Do
We publish for Morocco: We create books rooted in Moroccan landscapes, characters, and stories, told on their own terms, in their own voice, without apology.
We write for the child who was never written for: Our books are for the young reader searching for a face like hers, a street like hers, a story that says: you were always worth telling one about.
We carry the stories that were already there: Morocco overflows with extraordinary stories, carried in grandmothers’ voices, in the streets of its medinas, in the resilience of its people. We put them on the page.
What Matters to Us
Recognition over obligation: Children grow up associating books with school and exams. We believe reading should feel like pleasure, like belonging, never like disappearing into someone else’s world.
Culture told from within: We do not translate, borrow, or soften. We believe Moroccan culture is rich enough, alive enough, to be told entirely on its own terms.
The long view: A child who finds herself in a book does not just read a story. A nation of readers who see themselves clearly does not just dream of a different future. It builds one.
