INTERVIEW. When Boualem Sansal was the guest of the Montauban literary festival

While the 34th edition of Lettres d'Automne continues until this Sunday, December 1, its founder and former director, Maurice Petit, wanted to react to the arrest of Boualem Sansal, which occurred on November 16 at the airport of Algiers. The Franco-Algerian writer, awarded the Grand Prix of the French Academy with “2084”, was twice a guest at the Montalban literary festival, in 2010 and 2015. In a text entitled “An invincible winter in Algiers” – in reference to Albert Camus’ “invincible summer” – Maurice Petit urges the Algerian government to release this novelist known for his fight against religious fundamentalism and its critiques of the regime. Interview.

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CHRONIC. After the arrest of writer Boualem Sansal, “we should tell Algeria its four truths”

How are you experiencing this arrest which remains, for the moment, without justification?

Like something that had to happen. Boualem Sansal is an extremely courageous person who never wanted to leave Algeria. Even though he was tracked, followed, listened to and he was fired. Already in 2010, he told us that there was no question of him leaving. He has since obtained dual nationality and I know he asked a friend to find him an apartment in Paris. But in the meantime he was arrested. It is likely that his recent declarations related to questions of sovereignty between Morocco and Algeria, in addition to those of President Macron, could have served as pretexts for his arrest and probable imprisonment. The recent awarding of the Goncourt prize to Kamel Daoud was also perceived in Algiers as a provocation.

Boualem Sansal's statements, which pose a problem for the Algerian government, were relayed during an interview given to Frontières, a media outlet identified as far-right…

Knowing him, that’s not his position at all. But he says what he has to say and who he says it to is not the point. The only real problem is his right of expression. And it started with the publication of “Oath of the Barbarians”, in 1999. This renowned writer, published by Gallimard, could not travel and express himself.

How did you react?

It made me itch. Informed of his situation by Jean-Marie Laclavetine, his editor and friend, we invited Boualem Sansal to participate in Lettres d'Automne in 2010. It was necessary to set up an escort and a major security system with the prefecture because it was was really hot. The invitation was renewed in 2015, after the publication of “2084”. Thus he was able to bear witness here to his fight for humanism to finally find its place in Algeria. I think that literary festivals like Lettres d'Automne are made to help personalities who need it to find a platform.

In the same vein, it should be remembered that Kamel Daoud, crowned Goncourt 2024 prize, also came to Montauban…

Particularly for the 2013 edition, dedicated to Albert Camus. His book [le roman « Houris »] must have made them furious, they who have this propensity to sweep dust under the carpet by taking advantage in particular of the extremely vicious support of the Islamists… He also wanted to stay living in Oran but last year, he broke down and joined Paris. Both Daoud and Sansal amaze me with their courage, they are capable of anything.