Leïla Marouane (born in 1960) is a Tunisian-born French Algerian journalist and creative writer.  Leïla Marouane is a pseudonym; her full name is Leyla Zineb Mechentel. She is an author of novels and short fiction which have received a number of awards within the French-language literature community.

Biography

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Leyla Z. Mechentel was born in 1960 in Djerba, Tunisia, to a family living there in exile. The family moved to Biskra, and they lived there until she was six, when they moved to Algiers. She lived there until her exile from Algeria to Paris in 1991.[1]

She became a journalist after her college studies were interrupted in Algiers, working for Horizons and El Watan. She later wrote for Politis and Jeune Afrique, as well as the German-language press. In 1995, she attended Paris 8 University to finish her schooling. There she completed a creative writing degree, under the novelist Paul Fournel. Her debut novel, La fille de la Casbah (in English The Daughter of the Kasbah) , was published by Éditions Julliard in 1996. Since, she has published a number of novels. Her first novel translated or published in English was her 1998 Ravisseur, translated into English, as "The Abductor".[2]

She is also the founder of La Boutique (est. 1996), a creative writing focused organization which promotes French-language writing.[citation needed]

Literary works

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Awards

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Algerian Author Leila Marouane On Religion, Politics and Writing". Africa Book Club. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  2. ^ a b ""The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris" by Leïla Marouane". Words Without Borders. Retrieved 2016-01-18.

Sources

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  • Zohra Bouchentouf-Siagh, Dzayer, Alger : ville portée, rêvée, imaginée, Casbah, 2006, p. 84–86 (ISBN 9961645766)
  • Achour Cheurfi, Écrivains algériens : dictionnaire biographique, Casbah éditions, 2004, p. 249 (ISBN 9789961643983)
  • Pierre Grenaud, Algérie brillante d'hier, amère Algérie d'aujourd'hui, L'Harmattan, 2000, p. 60 (ISBN 9782747501088)

See also

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