Yasmina Khadra

Mohammed Moulessehoul (; born 10 January 1955), better known by the pen name Yasmina Khadra , is an Algerian author living in France, who writes in French. One of the most famous Algerian novelists in the world, he has written almost 40 novels, and has published in more than 50 countries. Khadra has often explored Algerian and other Arab countries' civil wars, depicting Muslim conflicts and reality, the attraction of radical Islamism to those alienated by the incompetence and hypocrisy of politicians, and conflicts between East and West. In his several writings on the Algerian war, he has exposed the regime and the fundamentalist opposition as the joint guilty parties in the country's tragedy.

Biography Early life, and short stories Moulessehoul was born in 1955 in Kénadsa, in the Algerian Sahara. His mother, of nomadic origins, was her tribe's "chief storyteller". His father, initially a nurse, joined the Algerian National Liberation army, as Algeria began to fight for independence from France. He became an officer, wounded in 1958. Parents sent their three sons, Mohammed aged nine and later his two younger brothers, to the cadet school of Revolution in El Mechouar Palace, Tlemcen. Khadra describes the beginning of his passion for writing in his autobiography entitled The Writer, in this way he was able to keep privacy that he missed in the cadet dormitories.

While at military school, at age 18, he finished his first volume of short stories, which was to appear eleven years later as Houria (1984).

Military career, first novels, and Algerian trilogy At age 23, Khadra graduated from the Cherchell Military Academy (AMC), and joined the armed forces as a second lieutenant. He has published three collections of short stories and three novels under his real name between 1984 and 1989.

In the early nineties, as a commander in the special forces, he was stationed at the Algerian-Moroccan border and in Oran Province, during the military deployment against Islamic fundamentalists, AIS and GIA. He suffered three nervous breakdowns, escaped two ambushes and was three times forced to land in a helicopter.

Adam Piore of Newsweek wrote: "Yet it is the journey into the beaten souls of Khandra's characters that makes this book so affecting. Few writers have so powerfully conveyed what it feels like to live in a totalitarian society, where uncompromising zealotry has thoroughly penetrated the national psyche. This book is a masterpiece of misery." The Swallows of Kabul was shortlisted for the IMPAC International Dublin Literary Award in 2006. The novel was adapted to animated film under the same title in 2019.

In 2004, Khadra published the crime novel Dead Man's Share (Eng. 2009), in which his character Llob becomes the plaything of the mighty in post-colonial Algeria.

The Attack (2005, Eng. 2006) explores the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and follows the life of an Arab Israeli couple living in Tel Aviv. The protagonist is a well-established medical doctor whose life is turned upside down when his wife becomes an Islamist terrorist and a suicide bomber. The novel received several literary prizes in 2006, including Prix des libraires – a prize chosen by about five thousand bookstores in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada – as the first Algerian laureate. In 2008, The Attack was shortlisted for the IMPAC award, his second work nominated. The novel's film adaptation, The Attack (2012) by Ziad Doueiri, garnered positive critics' reviews. In The Sirens of Baghdad, published in 2006 (Eng. 2007), Khadra looks at the Iraq War.

What the Day Owes the Night (2008, Eng. 2010) is a saga that takes place in Algeria between 1930 and 1962 and depicts a courageous defence of the double Franco-Algerian culture. "Broader in its canvas then his page-turning stories of Baghdad or Kabul [..] tale of family, love and war [...] Rich in incident and character (and ably translated by Frank Wynne), the novel shows us from within the colonised Algeria that Camus – as he acknowledged – could only glimpse as an outsider." Film adaptation under the same title (2012) did not meet commercial expectations, but was positively reviewed.

In 2011, Khadra was awarded the honorary Henri Gal Grand Prize for Literature by the French Academy.

Reviewing his novel Cousin K (2003, Eng. 2013), Steve Emmet of the New York Journal of Books wrote "Cousin K may be a small book but it is a giant of a literary work." In Khalil (2018, Eng. 2021), Khadra puts himself in the shoes of a Belgian terrorist of Moroccan origin, who blew himself up in Paris in November 2015. This novel was one of the best-selling books in France in 2018.

2014 presidential campaign On 2 November 2013, Khadra announced his candidacy for the presidency of Algeria. He was however unable to qualify, collecting only 43,000 of the 90,000 signatures required.

Publications As Muhammad Moulessehoul 1984: Amen! (Algeria) 1984: Houria: stories (Algeria) 1985: La fille du pont (The girl on the bridge, Algeria) 1986: El-Kahira, cellule de la mort (El Kahira: cell of death) 1988: De l'autre coté de la ville (The other side of the city) 1989: Le privilège du phénix (The privilege of the phoenix, Algeria)

As Yasmina Khadra 1990: Le Dingue au bistouri. Book 1 of Superintendent Llob Series 1993: La Foire des enfoirés: les enquêtes du Commissaire Llob (The Idiots' Fair: the Investigations of Commissioner Llob). Book 2 of Superintendent Llob Series 1997: Morituri, translated by David Herman (Toby Press, 2003). Book 3rd of Superintendent Llob Series, 1st of an Algerian trilogy 1998: Double Blank (Double blanc), translated by Aubrey Botsford (Toby Press, 2005). Book 4 of Superintendent Llob Series, 2nd of an Algerian trilogy 1998: Autumn of the Phantoms (L'Automne des Chimères), translated by Aubrey Botsford (Toby Press, 2006). Book 5 of Superintendent Llob Series, 3rd of an Algerian trilogy 1998: In the Name of God (Les Agneaux du Seigneur), translated by Linda Black (2000) 1999: Wolf Dreams (À quoi rêvent les loups), translated by Linda Black (2003). 2001: The Writer (L'Écrivain) 2002: The Imposture of Words (L'Imposture des mots) 2002: The Swallows of Kabul (Les Hirondelles de Kaboul), translated by John Cullen (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2004) 2003: Cousine K, translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith, Alyson Waters 2004: Dead Man's Share (La part du mort), translated by Aubrey Botsford (Toby Press, 2009). Book 6 of Superintendent Llob Series 2005: The Attack (L'Attentat), translated by John Cullen (Nan A. Talese, 2006) 2006: The Sirens of Baghdad (Les Sirènes de Bagdad), translated by John Cullen (Nan A. Talese, 2007) 2008: What the Day Owes the Night (Ce que le jour doit à la nuit), translated by Frank Wynne (2010) 2011: The African Equation (L'Équation africaine), translated by Howard Curtis (Gallic Books, 2015) 2013: The Angels Die (Les anges meurent de nos blessures), translated by Howard Curtis (2016) 2014: Qu'attendent les singes 2015: The Dictator's Last Night (La dernière nuit du rais), translated by Julian Evans (Gallic Books, 2015) 2016: Dieu n'habite pas La Havane 2018: Khalil (Khalil), translated by John Cullen (Nan A. Talese, 2021) 2019: L’outrage fait à Sarah Ikker Éditions Julliard, Paris 2022: Les Vertueux, aux éditions Mialet-Barrault 2024: Coeur-d'amande, aux éditions Mialet-Barrault 2026 : Le prieur de Bethléem, édition Flammarion, january 2026 (ISBN 9782080149671)

Filmography 2014: Two Men in Town, by Rachid Bouchareb, co-screenwriter

Film adaptations 2007: Morituri, by Okacha Touita 2007: Dhokha, by Pooja Bhatt 2012: What the Day Owes the Night, by Alexandre Arcady 2012: The Attack, by Ziad Doueiri 2019: The Swallows of Kabul, by Zabou Breitman

Awards and honours 2001: 'Médaille de vermeil', an award by Institut de France upon proposal of French Academy – The Writer 2005: "Best Book of 2005" by the San Francisco Chronicle and The Christian Science Monitor 2006: Prix des libraires, a prize chosen by about five thousand bookstores in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada – The Attack (L'Attentat) 2006: Prix Tropiques (AFD Literary Prize) – The Attack 2011: Henri Gal Literature Grand Prize, an honorary award by Institut de France upon the proposal of French Academy 2025 : Pepe Carvalho Awards 2025 : Casa Mediterráneo Awards