Hassouna Mosbahi

Hassouna Mosbahi (; 1950 – 4 June 2025) was a Tunisian author, literary critic and freelance journalist.

Life and career Hassouna Mosbahi was born in 1950 in the village of Dhehibat in the governorate of Kairouan, Tunisia, and studied French at the Tunis University.

He suffered persecution at the hands of the government of Habib Bourguiba and so sought refuge in Europe, moving to Munich, Germany in 1985. He returned to Tunisia in 2004. In 2010 he refused a "Judges' Choice" prize from the Prix Littéraires COMAR D’OR for his novel Ramād al-ḥayāh (Ashes of life), for what he described as "reasons he will keep to himself".

Mosbahi lived in Hammamat, Tunisia. He died on 4 June 2025, at the age of 75.

Political views Mosbahi was vocal in his opposition to the 2011 Tunisian revolution in interviews and speeches,

Prizes Toucan Fiction Prize in Munich, 2000, for German translation of Halwasāt Taršīš (Tarshish Hallucination) Mohamed Zefzef Prize for Fiction, 2016 Prix Littéraires COMAR D’OR, "Judges' Choice", 2010 (Refused by author) Nuwwārat al-diflā (Oleander), 2004. German translation (Der grüne Esel) 2013 by Regina Karachouli. Wadāʻan Rawzālī (A farewell to Rosalie), 2001. German translation (Adieu Rosalie) 2004 by Erdmute Heller. al-ʼAḵirūn (The Others), 1998 Halwasāt Taršīš (Tarshish hallucination), 1995. German translation (Rückkehr nach Tarschisch) by Regina Karachouli.

Short stories Haḏayān fī al-ṣaḥrāʼ (Dessert mirages), 2014 al-Sulaḥfāh (The Tortoise), 1997, 2000 Hikāyat junūn ibnat ʻammī Hanniya (A story of my cousin Hanniya's insanity), 1986 Laylat al-ḡurabāʼ (Night of strangers), 1997