Show Notes:
Nadia Ghanem regularly covers Algerian and Moroccan literature — particularly crime fiction — for ArabLit. The Moroccan writer Driss Chraibi’s Inspector Ali is the hero of his acclaimed detective novels. Ahmed Mourad’s Vertigo, also tr. She has a wonderful crime-lit overview, “The Story of 50 Years of Algerian Crime Fiction in 60+ Books,” and also a short translation of a work by Chawki Amari, ‘Murder at Algiers’ Book Fair’. Yasmina Khadra is the pen name of Algerian writer Mohammed Moulessehoul. Robin Moger), wrote “Some Advice on Avoiding Censorship” for the Summer 2020 crime-themed issue of ArabLit Quarterly. A few of Nadia’s favorite Algerian crime novels: Adel s’emmele by Salim Aissa (ENAL editions, 1988), Kharidj el-Saytara (خارج السيطرة) by Abdelatif Ould Abdellah (El-Ikhtilef editions, 2016), Sakarat Nedjma (سكرات نجمة) by Amel Bouchareb (Chihab editions, 2015), 1994 by Adlene Meddi (Barzakh editions, Algeria, also released in France by Rivage editions in 2018), La prière du Maure by Adlene Meddi (Barzakh editions, 2008), Le casse-tête turc by Adlene Meddi (Barzakh editions, 2002). He has written many books, including a series of brilliant detective novels, which have also been translated into English. Bulaq 53: ‘Murder, They Wrote’
Our guest this week was once told there were no Algerian crime novels. Moger, follows a story of crime and corruption through a photographer-sleuth’s lens. The 2017 Egyptian noir film The Nile Hilton Incident take place just before the outbreak of the Arab Spring in Cairo. Elias Khoury’s White Masks is his only murder-mystery; it has been translated by Maia Tabet. Nael Eltoukhy, author of Women of Karantina (tr. Several of Abdelilah Hamdouchi’s crime novels have been translated and published by Hoopoe. She begs to differ:
In this episode — recorded between Rabat, Paris, and Amman — we discuss the many examples of crime-writing and its evolutions in Algeria, Morocco and Egypt.