Kamel Daoud breaks the silence on the accusations surrounding his book “Houris”

Kamel Daoud, winner of the 2024 Goncourt Prize with his book “Houris”, is accused of having used the story of a victim of the civil war in Algeria. The author defends himself for the first time.

The Franco-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud defended himself, this Tuesday, December 3, in a column in “Point”, of having revealed and used the story of a victim of the bloody “black decade” in Algeria to write his novel “Houris”, winner of the 2024 Goncourt Prize.

“This unhappy young woman claims it’s her story. If I can understand his tragedy, my answer is clear: it is completely false,” he writes, also a columnist for “Point”. “Apart from the apparent injury, there is no common point between the unbearable tragedy of this woman and the character Dawn. The injury is not unique. Unfortunately, it is shared by many other victims. It is visible. She is that of hundreds of people,” he continues, accusing the complainant of being “manipulated to achieve an objective: to kill a writer (and) defame his family.”

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Kamel Daoud speaks for the first time

Kamel Daoud and his psychiatrist wife are accused of having used, without his consent, the story of Saâda Arbane, survivor of a massacre during the civil war in Algeria in the 1990s, for the writing of “Houris”. Two complaints were filed against them, one of which was accepted by a court. According to the plaintiff’s lawyer, Kamel Daoud and his wife must be summoned to…

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