Yasmina Khadra facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Yasmina Khadra
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Khadra in 2014
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Mohammed Moulessehoul
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| Born | 10 January 1955 Kénadsa, Béchar Province, Algeria |
| Pen name | Yasmina Khadra |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | French |
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Mohammed Moulessehoul (Arabic: محمد مولسهول), born on January 10, 1955, is an Algerian author. He is much better known by his pen name, Yasmina Khadra (Arabic: ياسمينة خضراء). He lives in France and writes in French.
Yasmina Khadra is one of the most famous Algerian novelists in the world. He has written almost 40 novels. His books have been published in over 50 countries. Khadra often writes about conflicts in Algeria and other Arab countries. He shows the challenges faced by Muslim communities. He also explores why some people are drawn to extreme ideas when politicians seem unfair. His books also look at the differences between Eastern and Western cultures. In his stories about the Algerian war, he has shown how both the government and extreme groups played a part in the country's troubles.
Contents
About Yasmina Khadra
Early Life and First Stories
Mohammed Moulessehoul was born in 1955 in Kénadsa, a place in the Algerian Sahara desert. His mother came from a nomadic tribe and was known as her tribe's "chief storyteller." His father was a nurse who joined the Algerian National Liberation army. This was when Algeria began to fight for independence from France. His father became an officer and was injured in 1958.
Mohammed and his two younger brothers were sent to a special cadet school. Mohammed was nine years old at the time. He describes how he started loving to write in his autobiography, The Writer. Writing gave him the privacy he missed in the busy school dorms. At first, he wanted to be a poet writing in Arabic. But then he met a French teacher who inspired him.
While still at military school, at age 18, he finished his first collection of short stories. These stories were published eleven years later in 1984, titled Houria.
Military Career and Early Novels
At 23, Khadra finished his studies at the Cherchell Military Academy. He then joined the armed forces as a second lieutenant. Between 1984 and 1989, he published three collections of short stories and three novels. He used his real name for these early works.
In the early 1990s, he was a commander in the special forces. He was stationed near the Algerian-Moroccan border and in Oran Province. This was during a time when the military was fighting against Islamic fundamentalist groups. He faced many dangerous situations. He had to make emergency helicopter landings three times.
To avoid a rule from 1988, which made soldiers get their writings approved by military censors, Khadra started using different pen names. One of these was 'Commissaire Llob'. Brahim Llob is also the name of a detective character in a series of his novels. This detective is honest but often feels helpless. He uncovers problems in Algerian society, like corruption. Because of this, he gets caught between the extreme groups and the powerful leaders.
After his first two books, Khadra found it hard to get published in Algeria. To get around the censorship, his wife signed his publishing contracts. Later, to honor her, he chose her first two names as his pen name: Yasmina Khadra. This means "green jasmine blossom."
In 1997, Khadra published the detective novel Morituri. This book helped him become known around the world. It was even made into a film in 2004. Morituri is part of a series of three books, known as the Algerian trilogy. The other two books are Double Blank (1998) and Autumn of the Phantoms (1998). These books show the Algerian Civil War and its causes in a real and interesting way.
He wrote these novels for readers in Europe, especially France. They focus on the reasons behind Islamic fundamentalism. They show everyday life in Algeria through the eyes of Inspector Llob. They describe the violence, bombings, corruption, and lack of opportunities for many people. These novels helped make detective stories popular in Algerian literature. In the last book of the trilogy, the main character is found to be the author behind the name Yasmina Khadra. He is then removed from his job and dies.
Khadra himself managed to avoid a similar fate. In 2000, he left the army to focus completely on writing. He moved with his family to France, after a stop in Mexico.
Life in France and Many Novels
Khadra settled in Aix-en-Provence, France. In 2001, he published his autobiography, The Writer (L'Écrivain). In this book, he wrote about his life as a soldier and as a writer. He received an award called 'Médaille de vermeil' from the French Academy for it. In the same year, he told everyone his real name. But out of respect for his wife, who helped them start a new life in France, he decided to keep using the pen name Yasmina Khadra.
A French critic once said, "A he or a she? It doesn't matter. What matters is that Yasmina Khadra is today one of Algeria's most important writers." Even though Khadra lives in France, he still keeps his own point of view. He encourages people to learn about and understand different cultures.
After his Algerian trilogy, he published The Swallows of Kabul in 2002. This story takes place in Afghanistan in 1998. The novel shows the strict rule of the Talibans and the difficult lives of Afghan women.
Adam Piore from Newsweek magazine wrote that the book is powerful because it shows the feelings of the characters. He said few writers have shown so well what it feels like to live in a society where extreme beliefs control everything. The Swallows of Kabul was nominated for a big award, the IMPAC International Dublin Literary Award, in 2006. It was also made into an animated film in 2019.
In 2004, Khadra published Dead Man's Share. In this crime novel, his character Llob becomes a pawn in the hands of powerful people in Algeria after it gained independence.
The Attack (2005) tells the story of an Arab Israeli couple living in Tel Aviv. The novel won several literary awards in 2006. It was the first time an Algerian author won the Prix des libraires, an award chosen by thousands of bookstores in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada. In 2008, The Attack was also nominated for the IMPAC award. The film based on the novel, The Attack (2012), received good reviews. In The Sirens of Baghdad, published in 2006, Khadra writes about the Iraq War.
What the Day Owes the Night (2008) is a long story set in Algeria between 1930 and 1962. It shows a brave defense of the mixed French-Algerian culture. One reviewer said it was a rich story about family, love, and war. It shows what Algeria was like during colonial times. A film based on this novel was also released in 2012.
In 2011, Khadra received the Henri Gal Grand Prize for Literature from the French Academy. This was a great honor.
Reviewing his novel Cousin K (2003), Steve Emmet from the New York Journal of Books said it was a "giant of a literary work." In Khalil (2018), Khadra writes from the perspective of a Belgian terrorist of Moroccan background. This character was involved in the November 2015 attacks in Paris. This novel was one of the best-selling books in France in 2018.
His novels have been translated into 48 languages and published in 56 countries. Besides films, his works have also been adapted for theater and comic books.
From 2007 to 2014, he was the director of the Algerian Cultural Center in Paris. He was asked to take this job by the President of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. However, Khadra was removed from this position after he said that the President's fourth term was "absurd."
2014 Presidential Campaign
On November 2, 2013, Khadra announced he wanted to run for president of Algeria. However, he was not able to get enough signatures to officially become a candidate. He needed 90,000 signatures but only collected 43,000.
Film Adaptations
- 2007: Morituri, directed by Okacha Touita
- 2007: Dhokha, directed by Pooja Bhatt
- 2012: What the Day Owes the Night, directed by Alexandre Arcady
- 2012: The Attack, directed by Ziad Doueiri
- 2019: The Swallows of Kabul, directed by Zabou Breitman
Awards and Honours
- 2001: 'Médaille de vermeil', an award from the Institut de France based on a suggestion from the French Academy – for The Writer
- 2005: "Best Book of 2005" by the San Francisco Chronicle and The Christian Science Monitor
- 2006: Prix des libraires, an award chosen by about five thousand bookstores in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada – for The Attack (L'Attentat)
- 2006: Prix Tropiques (AFD Literary Prize) – for The Attack
- 2011: Henri Gal Literature Grand Prize, an honorary award from the Institut de France based on a suggestion from the French Academy
- 2018: Grand Prix of Literary Associations (Belles-Lettres category) – for Khalil
See also
In Spanish: Yasmina Khadra para niños
- Algerian literature
- List of Algerian writers
- African literature
- List of African writers by country
Images for kids
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Khadra at the book festival in 2014
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