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Chronicles - Quiet Days in Algeria by journalists Adlene Meddi and Melanie Matarese


Fancy reading about Algeria in non-fiction form, away from linear political analyses or disconnected social studies ? Well you can with these short and daily chronicles written by Matarese and Meddi, two journalists who have written down their daily experiences of Algeria - from which Meddi is native and in which Matarese has lived in for 10 years.

My review in French on HuffPost Algérie :

Dans le champ des maisons d'édition indépendantes en France, les éditions Riveneuve se démarquent depuis leurs premières publications par leur intérêt pour "les littératures ouvertes sur le monde" et les "histoires de destins humains engagés ".
Ainsi, Riveneuve publient depuis 2008 une collection intitulée "Jours Tranquilles", une série de récits d'auteurs qui ont précédemment mené leur lecteurs à découvrir autrement des villes comme Beyrouth, le Caire, Tunis, Kaboul, Ramallah, Gaza ou l'Est européen réunifié.

C'est dans cette collection que vient s'ajouter "Jours Tranquilles à Alger" écrit par Mélanie Matarese et Adlène Meddi, qui depuis Alger et à travers leurs récits entrelacés racontent les jours presque tranquilles d'une période de l'Algérie contemporaine qui a défini leur quotidien.

Le presque est l'espace qu'explorent les deux auteurs. Un espace situé entre dinosaures de l'ère mésozoïque et de l'ère commune, tempêtes en bateau, casse-croûtes poulet-frite et une situation sociopolitique en non-transition permanente.

...continue reading here...
 

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