The Moroccan-born, Dutch-living Abdelkader Benali has won the prestigious E. du Perron prize for his novel, My Mother’s Voice. Yes, the novel was in Dutch (not Arabic, and isn’t this supposed to be a blog about Arabic literature?) But I like what Abdellatif Laâbi says about dual-language writers:
“Even when I am writing in French, my Arabic language is there. There is a musicality in Arabic, and these words enter into my French texts. I think that people are not seeing the originality of this phenomenon which is currently world wide.”
If you were lucky enough to get Banipal 35, then you’ve already read an excerpt from Benali’s award-winning novel.
Benali talks about identity politics in the Daily Star. More about his writing from Radio Books.
