Screenshot Koukou Editions
ALGERIA – Shortened book signing session. French author Dominique Martre probably did not expect such a welcoming committee when she presented her latest book in Béjaïa, in eastern Algeria, on Saturday, June 29.
A particularly muscular welcoming committee since it was made up of members of the Algerian security forces who burst into the Gouraya bookstore, where the book was presented Kabylia shares, in the privacy of women.
As told by AFP this Sunday, June 30, after having exchanged with its editor Arezki Ait-Larbi, “The police burst into the bookstore on Saturday afternoon (…) and arrested everyone present in the room, including the author, her husband, myself and the bookseller.”
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The one who runs the Koukou publishing house adds that Dominique Martre and the rest of those arrested on Saturday were taken to the police station before being released around 8 p.m.
Arrest without clear reason
A confusing situation to say the least, especially since the reasons for this police raid have not been revealed. Moreover, a similar presentation which was held last week in Algiers took place ” no problem “confided Arezki Ait-Larbi.
“We have no explanation for the reason for this ban, the book is sold in all bookstores”he added about this incongruous situation.
On the other hand, his publishing house has already been subject to censorship in recent years in Algeria. In 2022, 12 of his books, mainly on political subjects, were banned at Algeria’s main book fair, SILA.
This latest work published by Koukou and sold in Algeria recounts the memories of its author in a village in Kabylie in the 1970s. A way for her to take a sincere look at the experiences of women in this region of northern Algeria where a majority of the Amazighs, an ethnic group from North Africa, live.
This Sunday, the writer was “still in Béjaïa without restriction of freedom”according to its publisher.
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