Nestled in a side street in a certain section of the medina in old Marrakech is the hanout (small storefront) of an adl (public scribe), Si Abdullah who is well known for his skill in handling the “problems of writing” for a wide range of low-literate clientele. A renter asks Si Abdullah for an “official” letter to his landlord, having failed to persuade the landlord to let him stay in his lodging at the usual monthly rate (which has not, thanks to Allah, changed for 15 years).A mother seeks his help to produce a letter assuring a certain school administrator that her son is temporarily out of school “for a good reason.”In each case traditional methods of oral social interaction and persuasion are no longer sufficient to carry the day, or to establish a written record, increasingly important for later follow-up if required. Although both the renter and the mother had attended primary school, they know the importance and power of carefully crafted written documents – the difference between a document prepared by a specialist and one prepared by literacy novices like themselves.