French writer Dominique Martre was in the middle of presenting one of her books in a bookstore in Bejaïa when Algerian police burst into the store on Saturday, June 29, and arrested her, her publisher and several participants before releasing them a few hours later, the publisher told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday.
“The police burst into the bookstore on Saturday afternoon at the start of the book presentation Kabylia shared and arrested everyone present in the room, including the author, her husband, myself and the bookseller.”said Arezki Ait Larbi, director of the Koukou publishing house. “We were taken to the police station before being released around 8 p.m.”he added.
The reasons for this police raid on the Gouraya bookstore have not been revealed. Sunday June 30, the writer was “still in Béjaïa without restriction of freedom”said Mr. Ait Larbi. “We have no explanation for the reason for this ban, the book is sold in all bookstores”, assured the editor. Last week, Dominique Martre presented his book in Algiers ” no problem “he continued.
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Kabylie shared, in the intimacy of women, published and sold in Algeria, relates the memories of the author Dominique Martre in the heart of a village in Kabylia in the 1970s. She recounts the experiences of women in this predominantly Amazigh region of northern Algeria. The Koukou publishing house has already been the subject of censorship in recent years in Algeria. In 2022, she said that twelve of her books, mainly on political topics, had been banned at Algeria’s main book fair, SILA.
