World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Mohammed Moulessehoul

モハメド・ムルセシュール

Mohammed Moulessehoul

Pen Names: Yasmina Khadra（Pen name adopted to avoid military censorship and taken from his wife's names）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1955-01-10 （Kénadsa, Béchar Province, Algeria）
Nationality
Algerian
Languages
French
Residence History
Kénadsa (Algeria) → Aix-en-Provence (France)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Soldier (former), Screenwriter (co-writer)
Active Years
1984-
Affiliations
Algerian Cultural Center in Paris, former director (2007–2014)
Influenced By
Albert Camus, Oral storytelling traditions from the Arab world (influence of his mother)
Influenced
Nominations
2006 International Dublin Literary Award (IMPAC) shortlist — The Swallows of Kabul, 2008 International Dublin Literary Award (IMPAC) shortlist — The Attack

Education

Cherchell Military Academy
Period: 〜1978
Year of Graduation: 1978
Country: Algeria
Received military education and began a career as an officer

Awards

Médaille de vermeil
2001
Work: The Writer (L'Écrivain)
Organization: Institut de France (proposed by the Académie Française)
Result: 受賞
Prix des libraires
2006
Work: The Attack (L'Attentat)
Organization: Prix des libraires (chosen by booksellers in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada)
Result: 受賞
Prix Tropiques
2006
Work: The Attack (L'Attentat)
Organization: French Development Agency (AFD)
Result: 受賞
Henri Gal Literature Grand Prize (honorary)
2011
Organization: Institut de France (proposed by the Académie Française)
Result: 受賞（名誉賞）
Grand Prix of Literary Associations (Belles-Lettres)
2018
Work: Khalil
Category: Belles-Lettres
Organization: Grand Prix of Literary Associations
Result: 受賞
Pepe Carvalho Awards
2025
Organization: BCNegra (Barcelona literary festival)
Result: 受賞
Casa Mediterráneo Awards
2025
Organization: Casa Mediterráneo
Result: 受賞
San Francisco Chronicle / The Christian Science Monitor Best Book of 2005 (selection)
2005
Work: The Attack (L'Attentat)
Organization: San Francisco Chronicle / The Christian Science Monitor
Result: 選出

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Swallows of Kabul

2002 Novel (political/social)

Set in 1998 Afghanistan, it depicts life under Taliban rule, exploring the impact of religious fanaticism and the struggle for personal dignity.

religious fanaticismoppressionhuman dignity
Adaptations
  • [Animated film] The Swallows of Kabul / Zabou Breitman (2019)
Translations
  • French original (Les Hirondelles de Kaboul)
  • English translation (translated by John Cullen)

The Attack

2005 Novel (social/political)

Follows an Arab Israeli doctor whose life is upended when his wife commits a suicide attack; examines the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and personal consequences of political violence.

terrorismidentityconflict
Adaptations
  • [Feature film] The Attack / Ziad Doueiri (2012)
Translations
  • French original (L'Attentat)
  • English translation (translated by John Cullen)

What the Day Owes the Night

2008 Historical novel / Family saga

A saga set in Algeria between 1930 and 1962, portraying family, love and the complexities of Franco-Algerian identity during the colonial period.

colonialism and independencecultural hybridityfamily and love
Adaptations
  • [Feature film] What the Day Owes the Night (film) / Alexandre Arcady (2012)
Translations
  • French original (Ce que le jour doit à la nuit)
  • English translation (translated by Frank Wynne)

Morituri

1997 Detective novel (thriller/noir)

Set against police corruption and civil conflict, it follows a protagonist torn between duty and conscience; one of the works that brought international recognition.

corruptionviolencejustice
Adaptations
  • [Feature film] Morituri / Okacha Touita (2007)
Translations
  • French original
  • English translation (translated by David Herman)

Cousin K

2003 Novel

A small but powerful work praised for its emotional depth, dealing with personal and social wounds and recovery.

woundsrecoveryfamily
Translations
  • English translation (translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith)

Khalil

2018 Social novel

Using the November 2015 Paris suicide attacks as a backdrop, it explores the process leading to radicalization and individual psychology; was a bestseller in France.

radicalizationroots of violenceimmigrant societies
Translations
  • English translation (translated by John Cullen)

Bibliography

  • 1984: Amen! / Houria (short stories)
  • 1997: Morituri
  • 2002: The Swallows of Kabul (Les Hirondelles de Kaboul)
  • 2005: The Attack (L'Attentat)
  • 2008: What the Day Owes the Night (Ce que le jour doit à la nuit)
  • 2018: Khalil

Adaptations

  • Morituri — film (2007) directed by Okacha Touita
  • Dhokha — Indian film (2007, based on his work)
  • What the Day Owes the Night — film (2012) directed by Alexandre Arcady
  • The Attack — film (2012) directed by Ziad Doueiri
  • The Swallows of Kabul — animated film (2019) directed by Zabou Breitman

Translations of Works

  • The Swallows of Kabul — translated into English and many other languages
  • The Attack — English translation and many others

Style & Themes

Literary Style
social realismnoir elementslyrical description combined with documentary precision
Recurring Motifs
the normalization of violencepolitical corruptionsearch for identity

Health

  • nervous breakdowns
    1990年代（軍務中）
    Suffered several nervous breakdowns during the 1990s military deployments; this contributed to his decision to leave the army in 2000 and focus on writing.

Legacy

An internationally renowned Algerian writer who writes in French. Known for works about civil war, radicalism and colonial legacies; widely translated and adapted, he is considered a leading figure of contemporary Arab literature.

In Popular Culture

  • Several works have been adapted into films, animation, theater and comics
  • Widely read in the Francophone literary scene and influential in debates on social and political issues

Quotes

  • The West interprets the world as it likes. My novel gives readers in the West a chance to understand the core of a problem that they usually only touch on the surface.
    Source: Interview with SWR1 (2006) (2006)

Trivia

  • Yasmina Khadra is the pen name of Mohammed Moulessehoul
  • The pen name was taken from his wife's given names
  • Has written around 40 novels and been translated into 48 languages (per source)
  • Left the army in 2000 and relocated to France