Said Khatibi

Said Khatibi is an Algerian award winning writer.

Biography Khatibi was born in Bou Saâda in 1984. He studied at the University of Algiers and at the Sorbonne. He lives in Slovenia.

Works The Book of Faults (kitab al-khataya), novel, 2013 The Gardens of the East Afflamed (jana’in al-sharq al-multahiba), travel in the Balkans, 2015 Forty Years Waiting for Isabel, novel, 2016 Firewood of Sarajevo, novel, 2018 Swimming Against the Tide, novel, 2025

Awards 2017- Forty Years Waiting for Isabelle won the Katara Prize for Arabic Novel

2020- Firewood of Sarajevo was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction

2023- The End of the Desert won the Sheikh Zayed Book Award for Young Author

2026- Swimming Against the Tide won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction

Translations Forty Years Waiting for Isabel was translated into Spanish by Noemi Fierro Bandera.

Firewood of Sarajevo and The End of the Sahara have both been translated into English.

Khatibi has also translated the poetry of Kateb Yacine, and a volume of Algerian short stories into French.