Category: Algeria
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12 (Auto)biographical Narratives by Algerian Women
via ArabLit, A list of life-writing by Algerian women that’s worth reading: By Hiyem Cheurfa After ArabLit’s list of 12 Must-read Memoirs in Arabic, I proposed a similar list of (auto)biographical texts by Algerian women, whose contribution to the genre has often been critically obscured. The following list, which I have compiled with the help of […]
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The Frame, The Sausage, The Oil: Humor and Politics in Algeria’s Protests
via the always excellent ArabLit — Arabic Literature and Translation The pith and humor of Algerian protest signs will surely be an inspiration for literature to come: By Nadia Ghanem Since the official announcement on February 10 of this year that Algeria’s 82-year-old current president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, was set to run for a fifth term […]
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Constantine, Algeria: “Makach al khamssa ya Bouteflika” — Photos by Habib Tengour
The demonstrations in Algeria are a breath of fresh air in & for the Maghreb. Women & children in the front rows. It looks like the country has finally woken up from a long, long sleep. During what came to be called the 2011 “Arab Spring” in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, the “chape de plomb,” the […]
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A Look at 99 Books: Algerian Literature in English Translation
via ArabLit /Arabic Literature and Translation: Which Algerian books have been translated to English, which haven’t, and which should be? By Nadia Ghanem As Algeria approaches another momentous step in its political history with a presidential election that, like Brexit, could happen or not but probably yes rather than not, what better time than to […]
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“Exile: Women’s Turn — A Poem of East and West” by Nabile Farès
Just out from Dialogos Press, this excellent translation of Nabile Farès L’Exil au féminin, a poem sequence from 1990. A superb poet & novelist, who left us in 2016, Farès may be best known in this country for his second novel, Un passager de l’Occident (A Passenger From The West), which concerns his meeting and […]
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Samira Negrouche’s ‘Seven Little Jasmine Monologues’
Etel Adnan at Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg. From eteladnan.com. Thanks to Arabic Literature (in English) & via MLYNXQUALEY on JULY 11, 2017 , these works by my good friend Samia Negrouche: The poem “Seven Little Jasmine Monologues” first appeared in Pleaides magazine, in Marilyn Hacker’s translation, and is reprinted here with permission: The poem posted below, according to Negrouche, “happened when a […]
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Nabile Farès (1940-2016)
Just heard from his close friend, the poet Habib Tengour, that the great Algerian writer Nabile Farès died on Wednesday. A brief bio-note (revising the Wikipedia entry) for those who don’t know Farès or his work, followed by a little essay I wrote some years ago: Born in Collo, Algeria, Nabile Farès participated, during the Liberation war, in the […]
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2015 in Algerian Literature: Five to Watch
via Arabic Literature (in English) &Y MLYNXQUALEY on DECEMBER 25, 2015 • ( 0 ) Algerian literature was celebrated regionally and globally in 2015. But beyond the surface of the big names — the Kamel Daouds, Boualem Sansals and Yasmina Khadras — what else was going on? Nadia Ghanem looks back: By Nadia Ghanem Algerian […]
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60 Years Ago, Algeria
60 years ago today the Algerian War of Independence started, a day referred to as “la Toussaint Rouge,” the “Red All Saints’ Day.” It would last until 1962 when Algeria finally gained independence. Here’s the headline of the Oran paper for that day:
