Six Algerian Novelists Whose Work Is Shaping Algerian Literature
Algerian writer Zakia Allal has put together a list of six Algerian novelists whose works have impacted the country’s literature.
Algeria
Writers Select: New & Inventive Algerian Voices
We asked a number of Iraqi writers, translators, and scholars to put together a list of their highlights from Iraqi literature.
Ahlam Mosteghanemi: A Writer’s Journey of Love for and Devotion to Arabic Literature
“Arabic was my father’s choice, not mine; he wanted me to avenge him, as he was deprived of learning it by the French colonizer, who declared war on the Arabic language as a way of stripping Algerians of their identity.”
From ALQ: Football Chants and a Football-issue Playlist
“This chant reflects the intersections of football, politics, socioeconomics, migration, and the feelings of hogra. For those who want to escape the ills of the homeland, the wooden boat is often a symbol of their freedom.”
30 Reads: A Month of Algerian Literature by Women
“Of course, I do enjoy painting for you, right now, a slightly more calamitous situation than the one I actually face – I blame Algerian fiction’s long love affair with tragedies for my theatrics. But the truth is still harsh.”
From the Archives: Safia Ketou, the First Algerian Sci-fi Novelist of Post-independence Algeria
“– You are on the Mauve Planet.”
Friday Finds: Salah Badis’s ‘The Nayf’
The protagonists of Salah Badis’ “The Nayf” meet in front of a broken ATM in an upper-class Algiers neighborhood.
New Lit: Baya Mahieddine’s ‘The Great Great Big Bird’
“Le Grand Zoiseau” narrates the story of a little girl who wants to marry, and, seeing her mother deny her the right, she takes matters into her own magic hands.
Bulaq 53: ‘Murder, They Wrote’
Our guest this week was once told there were no Algerian crime novels. She begs to differ.