New to Watch: Online Video Discussions with Algerian Writers
“After every interview, I feel that I have visited Algeria from my house in Oxford.”
Algeria
The Challenges of Algerian Comix and ‘A Beautiful Local Production’
“Dalimen Editions really want to widen comic books’ readership. We want to strip away this image of comix as books for children. We have albums aimed at young readers, of course, but we have others for adults because comic books speak to everyone and are accessible to all.”
‘Fatma n’Parapli’: Comix Exploring Women’s Lives, Mental Illness, and Community
In addition to being “mad,” she was also very clever, and could compose rhyming poetry off the top of her head. She was also a tragic figure in that her mental illness set in after the death of many members of her family during the war, and she was forced to raise her four children on her own.
Abdelouahab Aissaoui on Publishing Realities, Challenges, and Dreams in Algeria
“A few days ago, I attended the Kuwait Book Fair, and saw that all Arab countries were there, represented by more than one publisher, except Algeria, and this is because of backward laws.”
Said Khatibi on the Entanglements of Story in Bosnia and Algeria
“When the war began in Sarajevo I was a child. I was in southern Algeria then. We sang songs in school about the children of Sarajevo, and we saw pictures of what was happening there on TV.”
IPAF Longlistee Samir Kacimi, on the Evolution of the Algerian Novel
“So, to make up for lost time, I took out the doors and I painted them on the balcony. To make sure they would dry, I left them there and went to sleep, until I was awakened by my four-year-old son who was in a panic and was screaming that all the doors had disappeared. It is the horror I saw in his eyes and in the eyes of my wife that the idea of writing about a city with no doors grew in my mind.”
The Story of 50 Years of Algerian Crime Fiction in 60+ Books
From state crimes and political murders to family feuds and petty crime, with investigations conducted by professionals or the uninitiated, Algerian crime writers have produced some the most entertaining stories I have read — and are certainly the most vibrant in the Algerian literary corpus.
12 (Auto)biographical Narratives by Algerian Women
“A common and conspicuous theme across the suggested texts below is that they are either set within or draw heavily from the national struggle against French colonial rule and its lingering aftermath in Algeria.”
‘Me and Haim’: an Algerian Odyssey Through Racism
“In fiction, the Algerian Jewish woman and man still await the main role.”