Machaho Tellem Chaho

While sex, drugs and pizzas have been stable story elements in Algerian novels over the past decade (for pizzas, read Chawki Amari), a prominent place given to smoking seems relatively new to me in our fiction as far as my readings go. Algerian novelist Fatma Zohra Zamoum has given an amusing and original twist to this ever present, highly enjoyed, and deadly social activity. Read the full review on Arabic Literature in English .

In 2015, Algerian literature was marked by great authors. Find out what these novels were and who their authors are on Arab Lit in Literature : 2015 in Algerian Literature: Five to Watch

Just discovered Algerian author Ryad Girod and his second novel The end that awaits us (La Fin qui nous attend), a novel set during an earthquake, published in French, in November 2015 by Barzakh editions. If you read French, here's my review of the book on Huff Post Algeria : "La Fin qui nous attend" de Ryad Girod.

In order to try to support and promote Algerian literature and its contemporary production, and to attempt to give it some visibility in English, I just created the FB page Litt DZ to help anyone interested in Algerian literature find out what gets published here. FB : LitDZ Twitter : @Litt_DZ

Interested in Algerian myths and legends ? Here is a discussion around Zoubeida Mameria ’s three-volume collection of Algerian myths,  Tales from the Land of Algeria ( Contes du Terroir Algerien , 2013 ) on Arabic Literature in English . * * * * * I am sitting on the steps outside my flat with Zoubeida Mameria ’s weighty three-volume collection of Algerian myths,  Tales from the Land of Algeria ( Contes du Terroir Algerien , 2013 )  on my lap. I am browsing through her collection, looking for a story involving plumbers. ADVERTISEMENT Mameria is from the central Algerian city of Souk Ahras and so, she says, are her stories. She warns in her introduction that she has chosen to recount “in an impressionistic manner” the tales her granddad and great aunts used to tell her. She qualifies her storytelling as impressionistic because she has not recorded the stories she was told. Instead, she is recrafting stories that she considers Algerian but that ...

If you're interested in the first Assia Djebar Prize ceremony, see my review of the event on Arab Literature in English .

  Algiers' International Bookfair, SILA, is now open until 7 November. Here are some highlights to be found on Arabic Litterature (in English) :     On October 25, SILA’s commissioner held a press conference to both publicize this year’s book fair and to highlight some important — and some strange — information on the event’s forthcoming scope and structure. Communicating the details of one of Africa’s largest book fairs just a few days before opening might seem last-minute, but it does have the merit of building up excitement and a thoroughly enjoyable chaos in a nation where last-minute always leaves us ample time to arrive late anyway. Continue reading here ....  

Yacine and Adel are two old friends on their way to work. Yacine, the dreamer of the two, works for a museum in Algiers about to get closed because of lack of funds. He is on his way to a difficult meeting with the museum director, Mr Yousfi, an old and gentle man desperately trying to save the museum. Adel, always cautious and down to earth, works in a bank and promises to try and think of something that might raise some funds. The two friends meet after work to go and grab a bite to eat but Yacine receives a phonecall from Yousfi who asks him to come urgently. The Minister of Culture's decision regarding the museum's affairs is about to fall: it will be closed and not even a private venture can save it. Yacine and Adel make their way to the museum, where Yacine goes off to meet with Yousfi, while Adel waits for them and wanders off in the various private rooms usually closed to public view. He enters a fully furnished medieval style bedroom, hangs his coat on a...

The 20 th edition of Algiers’ International Book Fair is about to open its doors for a week between 29 October to 7 November. During a press conference held on 25 October to help publicise the event - and which was live-tweeted - #SILA2015’s Commissioner, M. Hamidou Messaoudi, communicated some important, and some strange, information on the event’s scope and structure. Here are some press conference highlights.   Numbers The guest of honour this year is France, who is said to have invited a number of high flying speakers, and has organised a special series of activities to mark its very own special edition. 53 countries in all will participate to the event, and 25 thousand titles will be made available. Priority has been given to new releases we are told, and to university and scientific publications. The Commissioner highlighted that, this year, 54% of exhibitors are Algerians, possibly in comparison to a majority of foreigners in previous years o...

Adel s'emm ê le [Adel gets entangled] is Algerian novelist Salim Aissa’s second detective novel. It was published in 1988 by ENAL editions. His first was Mimouna , published the year before in 1987. I've found no information about who Salim Aissa is, and found no other books published by him after these two, and what a shame that is. Adel s'emmele is one of the best Algerian detective novels of the 80s I've read. By that I mean it is (finally) a detective story written for adults, it doesn't have the (excruciating) excess of wisecracks, no adjectival abusem its narrative is tight and flows (great editing for once). And crime is not glazed over. Adel is a bullheaded police inspector who works in Algiers, a chaotic capital in which crime abounds. There, further injustice is created daily by a lethargic public system in which all involved are corrupted. In an environment that is becoming increasingly aggressive and violent, Adel and his colleagues, Che...