Gallimard, the publisher of Kamel Daoud, excluded from the Algiers Book Fair

The Gallimard publishing house, which publishes a novel by Kamel Daoud whose content is illegal in Algeria, was asked not to go to the Algiers Book Fair in November, it indicated Thursday to the AFP. “We were forbidden to come, without being given a reason”specified a spokesperson for the publishing house. Thursday afternoon, no confirmation or comment was obtained from Algiers.

The 27^e edition of the Algiers Book Fair, at the Pins Maritimes exhibition center, is scheduled from November 6 to 16. Gallimard’s flagship novel during this literary season is Hourisby the Franco-Algerian Kamel Daoud, fiction which looks back on the civil war in Algeria, between 1992 and 2002, also called the “black decade”.

However, as the author writes in his novel, Algerian law prohibits any mention in a book of the bloody events of that time, which prevents Houris be published or even imported there. On the Actualitté website, which revealed the affair, CEO Antoine Gallimard clarified that the other publishing houses of his group, Madrigall, would not go to this show either, out of solidarity.

A book already “hacked and read”

As for the reasons for this ban, “it is allowed to imagine everything, given that their mail [celui des organisateurs] does not give details »commented Mr. Gallimard. Kamel Daoud deplored the banning of his book in Algeria in front of the audience at the literary festival Les correspondences de Manosque (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), at the end of September. But, he noted, “my book is read in Algeria because it is pirated. It is not published, unfortunately. But it is criticized, it is commented on. And, it is a fault of our time, it is even by people who have not read it. »

The professional organization of French publishers expressed its solidarity with Gallimard in a press release published Thursday. “The National Publishing Union and its members deeply regret this exclusion. The circulation of books and their authors is a constant concern between France and Algeria”we read in this press release.