Ahlam Mosteghanemi

Ahlam (or Ahlem) Mosteghanemi is an Algerian writer. She has been called the world best arabophone woman novelist in the country.

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Biography

Ahlam Mosteghanemi was born in Tunis. She is the daughter of a militant political activist who was made to leave the country on the exile grounds at the time of the liberation war in the country. In the year 1962, on the rise of the independence of the country, her family made a move back to the country, and it was in the country that the father, who is an intellectual and a humanitarian got high positions in the first government of the country. Her father was the man that launched an alphabetization campaign in all the regions of the country and he manned the distribution of the agricultural land to the poor masses if the country.

In the 1970s, after the killing of her father at the time of the Boumediene coup d’etat and his hospitalization, as the eldest sibling, Ahlam Mosteghanemi took up the responsibility of providing for the family as a radio host. At the age of 17, Ahlam Mosteghanemi became a household name in the country with the poetic daily show called Hammassat on the national radio. While she was publishing in the year 1973, Ahlam Mosteghanemi also became the first woman in the country to publish a compilation of poetry in Arabic language and that put her on a prickly and untraveled track. That was followed by the release of Al Kitab fi Lahdat Ouray in the year 1976. At that time, Ahlam Mosteghanemi was one of the first generation to get the right to study in Arabic after being prohibited by the French colonization for over a decade.

Ahlam Mosteghanemi met George El Rassi, a Lebanese journalist and a historian in Algiers. They got married in Paris in the year 1976 and they settled there. Ahlam Mosteghanemi went after her University studies at the Sorbonne and in the year 1982, she got her doctorate degree in Sociology. Her thesis tackled the misconstruction and the condition between the both genders in her country, Algeria. The doctorate she got was under the help of Jacques Berques, an orientalist. During the 15 years she was in Paris, Ahlam Mosteghanemi made so many contributons to the magazines and at the time that was stolen for her function as a mother of three boys, she constructs some fragments that later after four years became novels.

Works

Novels

Ø  Zakirat el Jassad (Memory of the Flesh/The Bridges of Constantine) - Published by Dar al adab, Beirut, 1993, 34 printed editions. Considered by critics as a turning point in Arabic literature.

Ø  Fawda el Hawas (Chaos of the Senses) - Published by Dar al adab in Beirut 1997, 30 printed editions.

Ø  Aber Sareer (Bed Hopper) - Published by Dar al adab in Beirut 2003, 22 printed editions.

Ø  El Aswad Yalikou Biki (Black Suits You so Well) - Published by Hachette-Antoine in Beirut 2012

Anthologies

Ø  Ala Marfa al Ayam (In the Harbour of Days) - Published by SNED in Algers 1973

Ø  Al Kitaba fi Lahdat Ouray (Writing in a Moment of Nudity) - Published by Dar Al-Adab in Beirut 1976

Ø  Algérie, femmes et écriture (Algeria, Women and Writings) - Published by l'Harmattan in Paris 1985

Ø  Akadib Samaka (Lies of a Fish) - Published by l'ENAG in Algers 1993

Ø  Nessyane.com (The Art of Forgetting)- Published by Dar Al-Adab in Beirut 2009

Academic research

Academic research for her doctoral thesis, Paris 1982, supervised by Jacques Berque.

Ahlam Mosteghanemi's novels have been taken to the curricula for many universities and high schools n the world. And many university thesis and research works have been based on the works she did. The French Ministry of Education has made use of some parts of the Memory in the Flesh for the French baccalaureate test in the year 2003 and in about 15 other countries where students selected Arabic as a second language.

Ahlam Mosteghanemi’s works has been translated to many languages by the prestigious publishing houses.

Ahlam Mosteghanemi taught and worked as a visiting professor in several universities in the world including the following universities in the world; The American University of Beirut, in the year 1995 - University of Maryland, in the year 1999 - University of Sorbonne, 2002 - Montpellier University,  2002 - University of Lyon, 2003 - Yale University, 2005 - MIT Boston, 2005 - University of Michigan, 2005.

Awards and honors

Ø  Acknowledged by Forbes Magazine in 2006 as the most successful Arabic writer, having exceeded sales of 2,300,000 and one of the ten most influential women in the Arab world and the leading woman in literature.

Ø  Awarded The Shield of Beirut by the Governor of Beirut in a special ceremony held at Unesco Palace attended by 1500 people at the tme her book “nessyane.com” was published in 2009.

Ø  Got the Shield of Al Jimar Foundation for Arabic Creativity in Tripoli – Libya, 2007.

Ø  Named the Algerian Cultural Personality of the year 2007 by Algerian News Magazine and the Algerian Press Club.

Ø  chosen for three years in a row (2006, 2007 and 2008) as one of the 100 most powerful public figures in the Arab World by Arabian Business Magazine, ranking at number 58 in 2008.

Ø  Named The Most Distinguished Arab Woman of 2006 (selected from 680 nominated women) by the Arab Women Studies Center Paris / Dubai

Ø  Awarded a medal of honor from Abdelaziz Bouteflika the President of Algeria in 2006.

Ø  Received the Medal of Appreciation and Gratitude from Sheikh Abdelhamid Ben Badis Foundation, Constantine, 2006.

Ø  Got the Pioneers of Lebanon Committee Medal for her overall work 2004.

Ø  Got the George Tarabeh Prize for Culture and Creativity, Lebanon, 1999.

Ø  Got the Amman Loyalty Medal for Creativity, Amman, Jordan 1999.

Ø  Got the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature for Memory of the Flesh in 1998.

Ø  Got the Nour Foundation Prize for Women's Creativity, Cairo, 19*6.