Yasmina Khadra (Mohamed Moulessehoul)

[Al-khiyal]

L'Ecrivain de Yasmina Khadra

Il rêvait d'être poète mais son père voulait faire de lui un militaire. Le jeune Mohamed fut donc emmené à l'école des cadets où tout ce qu'il apprit ce fut la nostalgie de la ferme familiale et sa propre incapacité à supporter l'arrogance des militaires. Il se réfugie alors dans les livres, la lecture et l'écriture et commence à publier. Mais l'armée ne voit pas d'un très bon œil d'avoir un écrivain dans ses rangs. Il est rapidement sommé de soumettre ses textes à la censure militaire. Pour lui, il n'est pas question d'accepter mais renoncer à l'écriture est également impossible. Il se rallie à la suggestion de sa femme de prendre un pseudonyme et lui emprunte ses deux prénoms. Yasmina Khadra. C'est sous ce nom qu'il publie plusieurs romans policiers au succès retentissant dont 'Morituri' où il dénonce la barbarie de la guerre civile algérienne. Aujourd'hui Mohamed, alias Yasmina Khadra, a quitté l'armée et a choisi d'écrire à visage découvert tout en gardant le pseudonyme qui l'a rendu célèbre. 'L'Écrivain' est le récit autobiographique de ce destin étonnant mais surtout une évocation poignante de l'histoire récente de l'Algérie en même temps qu'un magnifique éloge de la littérature.

~ Yves Bellec

[Al-khiyal]

The Sirens of Baghdad by Yasmina Khadra

Review by Steve Walsh:

An unintended consequence of the war on terror has been extreme resentment toward the United States among many people in the Muslim world. Nowhere is this manifested more than in Iraq and Afghanistan, where young men and women are willing to achieve "martyrdom" by becoming suicide bombers. In his latest novel, "The Sirens of Baghdad," Yasmina Khadra has accurately portrayed this phenomenon, one little understood in the non-Muslim world.

Initially set against the backdrop of an isolated Bedouin village in Iraq, the book tells the story of a young former university student who, like many Iraqis, has seen the atrocities of Saddam Hussein and later the actions of the coalition forces who ousted him from power.

The village, Kafr Karam, is like many small towns in Iraq - "a well ordered little town. We didn't have to go elsewhere for our basic needs." Their attitudes and opinions are like many Iraqis': They disdained Hussein's regime - but dislike the presence of coalition forces. The situation changes, however.

The first incident bringing about that change is the killing of a mentally handicapped teenager at a coalition checkpoint when he fails to follow instructions; the second incident is the killing of a group of civilians during an evening wedding party at a family compound on the outskirts of the village. The third and final straw that sends the protagonist over the edge is the abuse his family, particularly his invalid father, receives during operations by U.S. forces searching for weapons and explosive devices.

These separate, but powerful incidents are enough to bring about a fundamental change in him - from an observer to a participant in a terrorist scheme with truly devastating potential.

"Yasmina Khadra" is the female pseudonym for a former Algerian army officer, Mohammed Moulessehoul, who was forced to choose retirement rather than submit his manuscripts to military oversight. His book's descriptions of the Iraqi countryside and, to some degree, the attitudes and actions of coalition forces are accurate.

Khadra refers to coalition forces' accidentally targeting a wedding party, an incident that actually occurred in western Anbar province several years ago. All counterinsurgency conflicts, Iraq included, are frequently brutal and severe.

Commanders try to inculcate cultural sensitivity and respect for the "law of war," but the reality is that, at times, forces can be heavy-handed. I saw friends and colleagues killed by suicide bombers in Iraq, and that makes you err on the side of extreme caution when dealing with local nationals. So when instructions are not immediately followed, violence often occurs. While unfortunate, that is the sad truth.

However, the book does not address the hundreds if not thousands of daily acts of "random kindness" by coalition forces. Despite the nervousness of operating in a dangerous environment, troops still take the time to give children candy, repair a school, share a bottle of water with a local citizen.

That said, "The Sirens of Baghdad" earns its place in the collection of "must-read" books on counterinsurgency and counterterror operations. Its gripping descriptions of the world as seen through the eyes of a simple young man deeply centered in culture and tradition provide a lesson on how actions can turn a friend into a very dangerous foe. A lesson that is far too powerful to ignore.

[Al-khiyal]

Jeudi 8 Novembre 2007 -- Resté sans chef depuis la fin de mandat du directeur sortant, le très convoité Centre culturel algérien à Paris a désormais un nouveau directeur. Il s’agit de Mohamed Moulessehoul, plus connu sous le pseudonyme de Yasmina Khadra, qui fait parti de la nouvelle vague des porte-drapeaux de la littérature algérienne. L’auteur de L’Imposteur des mots, dont on avait d’ailleurs remarqué la présence à la Garden partie donnée par le président de la République, le 1er Novembre, aura certainement à cœur de donner une dynamique à cette institution qui est la vitrine intellectuelle de notre pays en France. Il faut préciser que le nom de l’ancienne ministre et sénatrice Anissa Ben Amar était avancé un certain moment dans la presse pour occuper ce poste.

Centre culturel algérien à Paris : Yasmina Khadra aux commandes

[Al-khiyal]

«Commissaire Llobe» de Yasmina Khadra adapté pour le petit écran

Mercredi 16 janvier 2008 -- Le roman policier « Commissaire Llobe » de Yasmina Khadra sera adapté bientôt pour le petit écran. Invité, avant-hier, de l'émission « Les débats sur les ondes » de radio El-Bahia, le romancier Yasmina Khadra, de son vrai nom Moulesshoul Mohamed, directeur du Centre culturel algérien à Paris, a déclaré qu'une série policière de six épisodes d'une durée d'une heure chacun sera adaptée par l'Entreprise nationale de la télévision (ENTV) à partir de son roman «Commissaire Llobe». La série sera diffusée le mois de juin prochain.

[Al-khiyal]

A soldier’s dialogues

February 3, 2008 -- Quite calm, quite quiet. He has a brooding intensity that is hard to miss even when he smiles. Which is neither often nor does it come easy! That is Yasmina Khadra. Does it ring a bell? Well, not quite. Never mind. Here is another clue: He is a man who started writing under a woman’s pseudonym to avoid censure, and may be popularity because he was an officer in the Algerian army. But as a writer he was good, in fact too good to live under the cover of obscurity for long. So, the guys with guns got after the guy with the pen. Off went the cloak of Yasmina and the world got to know Mohammed Moulessohoul, the man who writes on West Asia with a felicity and insight that few manage.

The Algerian writer had come to India to participate in the Translating Bharat deliberations, as part of the Jaipur Literature Week recently. He was not mobbed, not too many ran for a picture with him. But in a brief conversation, he left an imprint, revealing, through a translator, why and how he has helped build bridges between the West and the Arab world. And what it means to be a writer in a closed society.

“I was in the Algerian Army. I was a soldier who was fond of writing. I had written eight novels under my real name when the Army thought I was becoming too famous, so they imposed censorship on me.” If you thought he would become one brooding middle aged man — he was born in 1955 — think again. He is ready to smile about the Army today. “There was a time when the Army did not like it. Now, they do! I had won the battle of the bullet with the pen.”

So, how does his pen bring about a better understanding of the Arab world for the West? Explains the author whose book The Sirens of Baghdad relates the story of a terrorist-to-be who is radicalised by the humiliation of his father by the American forces. “The West mistakes us. It does not understand the culture, the polity. The media is spreading disinformation. Eventually, the people of the U.S. themselves turned hostile towards their Government. They are sandwiched between the Government policies and the bleeding, ground reality. When my earlier books were released, the American media praised them. When The Sirens of Baghdad was launched, there was a different reaction. America is not ready to understand how an Arab sees the Americans. I feel sad because my books could have given important clues to them.”

Earlier Khadra had penned The Swallows of Kabul, and told the world that “fanaticism is a threat to all”. Now, he wants West Asia to be left alone. “If the Arab countries are left alone, there would be peace. Rulers are fairly vulnerable. Many of them are corrupt, debased, depraved and not intelligent. They can be changed.” So, what is the impediment?

Says Khadra, who speaks in French and Arabic with only a few words of English thrown in, “America has made the situation disastrous in Iraq. It is like an elephant in a china shop. But the U.S. cannot leave like this, leaving behind the ruins of a great civilisation. It has the responsibility to rebuild. The mistakes are entirely American.” Fine. But what can a writer or a journalist do in times of a colossal tragedy? “Literature has not the sole purpose to talk of everyday news. There is a moral role to play too. A writer is meant to be enlightened. It is his duty to involve himself in major conflicts, engage in dialogue because he has the power to bring about a solution. My books have been a ferment of change in Algeria. They have helped the West to understand the Arab world.”

Though his writings are not quite the stuff of dinner talk in India, he aspires to be there. “In translations lies my hope. My book In the Name of God was translated into Malayalam two years ago. And my other books have been translated into 30 international languages. In India, publishers have evinced interest in translation but it is too early to say when the books can come out.”

As the conversation veers towards closure, Khadra reveals his humorous side again. “After the session here I am putting up in a guesthouse in Delhi. It does not seem too reputed or safe. Maybe, they feel writers are not so safe or I am not so well reputed!"

[Bent_Bladi]

A soldier’s dialogues

"...I had won the battle of the bullet with the pen.”




"...When The Sirens of Baghdad was launched, there was a different reaction. America is not ready to understand how an Arab sees the Americans. I feel sad because my books could have given important clues to them.”

Wow, this guy sounds awesome

[Al-khiyal]

Pour l’ensemble de son œuvre littéraire :
Yasmina Khadra décoré de la Médaille d’officier des arts et des lettres

Samedi 16 Février 2008 -- L’écrivain Mohamed Moulessehoul, alias Yasmina Khadra, a été décoré, jeudi tard dans la soirée à Paris, de la Médaille d’officier des arts et des lettres pour l’ensemble de son œuvre.

Frédéric Mitterrand, personnalité du monde de la culture française qui avait remis à l’écrivain algérien cette distinction, a salué l’auteur dont “le talent est reconnu unanimement par la critique mondiale et les œuvres traduites dans 32 pays”. Devant les invités, Mohamed Moulessehoul a fait part de son “émotion” après cette distinction, estimant qu’elle est “une reconnaissance de la qualité de son œuvre” et va le “réhabiliter dans le circuit littéraire et vis-à-vis de tous ceux qui ont semé le doute à son égard”.

Auteur prolifique, Moulessehoul, né en 1955 à Kenadsa dans la région de Béchar, s’est surtout distingué par ses romans traitant de la décennie noire comme À quoi rêvent les loups et les Agneaux du Seigneur. Mohamed Moulessehoul dirige actuellement le Centre culturel algérien de Paris.