Leïla Marouane


Leïla Marouane 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

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.
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 '', 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".
She is also the founder of La Boutique, a creative writing focused organization that promotes French-language writing.

Literary works

  • 1996 : La Fille de la casbah
  • 1998 : Ravisseur
  • 2001 : Le Châtiment des hypocrites
  • 2003 : L'Algérie des deux rives
  • 2004 : Les Criquelins; suivi de Le sourire de la Joconde
  • 2005 : La Jeune Fille et la Mère
  • 2007 : La Vie sexuelle d'un islamiste à Paris
  • 2009 : Le Papier, l'encre et la braise
  • 2009 : Nouvelles d'Algérie
  • 2012 : ''ALGERIES 50''

Awards