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Interview with Yasmina Khadra
June 09, 2022The interview will be available as of Thursday, June 9 at 7:00 p.m.
ONLINE
Casa Árabe’s YouTube channel.
The interview will be available as of Thursday, June 9 at 7:00 p.m.
In French, with Spanish subtitles.
To mark the holding of the Madrid Book Fair, writer Yasmina Khadra has
been visiting our country. Casa Árabe met up with him, and you can watch
our talk on the Casa Árabe YouTube channel as of Thursday, June 9.
We spoke with Yasmina Khadra about his latest novel, “The Salt of All Forgetfulness,” in an interview that took us through the ideals of post-independence Algeria and looked back at the fate of a young and brave people, while also discussing the universal role played by women, Don Quixote and the imagination, the French-speaking and Arab worlds, today’s rough times and his love for readers.
Yasmina Khadra is one of the most important and best-known writers in Algeria’s literary world. His work has been translated and published quite successfully in over 45 countries. His best-known novels include “Wolf Dreams,” “The Writer,” “In the Name of God,” “Dead Man’s Share,” “The Attack,” “The Sirens of Baghdad,” “The Swallows of Kabul,” “What Are the Monkeys Waiting for?...,” “The Dictator’s Last Night,” “God Doesn’t Live in Havana,” “Khalil” and “The Disgrace of Sarah Ikker,” among others. Yasmina Khadra’s latest novel to be portrayed on the silver
screen was “The Swallows of Kabul,” in 2020. Yasmina Khadra is the pen name of a former commander of the Algerian army, Mohamed Moulessehoul, which he was forced to take on. For ten years, he had to conceal his identity behind this feminine name so as not to raise suspicion and be able to use his novels to denounce the drama being suffered by his country, from the corruption in circles of power to the bloodthirsty irrationality of Islamic fundamentalisms.
You can find all of Yasmina Khadra’s books at Casa Árabe’s Balqís Bookshop.
You can watch the interview as of June 9 at 7:00 p.m. on our YouTube channel.
Summary of “The Salt of All Forgetfulness”
As Algeria continues feeling euphoria over its independence, Adem’s world falls apart when his wife leaves him. Unable to get over her, he sets off to wander the roads and meet other castaways in life: a dwarf in search of true friendship, a blind musician who sings prophetically, a psychiatrist who reads Gogol and Pushkin, veterans scarred by the war, recovering ex-cons...They make up the cruel mirror of a society filled with hope, but one from which he removes himself, with no chance for redemption. Until the day his old demons catch up with him.
Yasmina Khadra is one of the most important and best-known writers in Algeria’s literary world. His work has been translated and published quite successfully in over 45 countries. His best-known novels include “Wolf Dreams,” “The Writer,” “In the Name of God,” “Dead Man’s Share,” “The Attack,” “The Sirens of Baghdad,” “The Swallows of Kabul,” “What Are the Monkeys Waiting for?...,” “The Dictator’s Last Night,” “God Doesn’t Live in Havana,” “Khalil” and “The Disgrace of Sarah Ikker,” among others. Yasmina Khadra’s latest novel to be portrayed on the silver
screen was “The Swallows of Kabul,” in 2020. Yasmina Khadra is the pen name of a former commander of the Algerian army, Mohamed Moulessehoul, which he was forced to take on. For ten years, he had to conceal his identity behind this feminine name so as not to raise suspicion and be able to use his novels to denounce the drama being suffered by his country, from the corruption in circles of power to the bloodthirsty irrationality of Islamic fundamentalisms.
You can find all of Yasmina Khadra’s books at Casa Árabe’s Balqís Bookshop.