As usual pick a book, poem, short story, etc related to our theme (North Africa) and come along and tell us all about it. The following list of suggestions, as always, is no prescriptive – if you find something better, read that instead!

### 🇲🇦 **Morocco**

* ***The Sand Child* (1985)** – *Tahar Ben Jelloun*
* Language: French (trans. Alan Sheridan)
* A poetic, subversive novel about gender, identity, and authoritarianism. It tells the story of a girl raised as a boy in a patriarchal society. Followed by the sequel ***The Sacred Night***, which won the Prix Goncourt.
* ***Leaving Tangier* (2006)** – *Tahar Ben Jelloun*
* A modern, lyrical novel about migration, disillusionment, and the tension between Morocco and Europe.
* ***For Bread Alone* (1973)** – *Mohammed Choukri*
* Language: Arabic (translated from Moroccan Darija by Paul Bowles)
* A raw, semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story set in Tangier, depicting poverty, hunger, sexuality, and survival. Controversial when first published; now a modern classic.
* ***The Happy Marriage* (2016)** – *Tahar Ben Jelloun*
* A psychological portrait of marriage, power, and male privilege told through alternating perspectives.

***

### 🇩🇿 **Algeria**

* ***Nedjma* (1956)** – *Kateb Yacine*
* Language: French
* A landmark modernist novel often compared to Faulkner and Joyce, blending myth, history, and revolutionary fervor. Considered foundational in Algerian Francophone literature.
* ***The Meursault Investigation* (2013)** – *Kamel Daoud*
* Language: Arabic/French (trans. John Cullen)
* A brilliant postcolonial response to Camus’s *The Stranger*, narrated by the brother of the unnamed Arab murdered by Meursault. Philosophical and politically daring.
* ***The German Mujahid* (2008)** – *Boualem Sansal*
* Language: French (trans. Frank Wynne)
* Explores memory, Nazism, and Islamist radicalism through the story of two brothers in France and Algeria.
* ***The Last Summer of Reason* (1997)** – *Tahar Djaout*
* A visionary, haunting novel set in an Islamist dystopia where books are banned. Djaout was assassinated by extremists shortly after.

***

### 🇹🇳 **Tunisia**

* ***The Scents of Marie-Claire* (1997)** – *Habib Selmi*
* Language: Arabic (trans. Fadwa al Qasem)
* A quiet, incisive novel exploring a cross-cultural relationship between a Tunisian man and a French woman, revealing both personal and political tensions.
* ***The Italian* (2011)** – *Shukri Mabkhout*
* Language: Arabic (trans. Miled Faiza and Karen McNeil)
* Winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. A novel of love, politics, and betrayal during the tumultuous post–Bourguiba era in Tunisia.

***

### 🇱🇾 **Libya**

* ***In the Country of Men* (2006)** – *Hisham Matar*
* Language: English
* Booker-shortlisted. Told through the eyes of a boy during Gaddafi’s regime, it’s lyrical and devastating, exploring repression, family, and memory.
* ***Anatomy of a Disappearance* (2011)** – *Hisham Matar*
* A coming-of-age novel centered on exile and the mysterious disappearance of the narrator’s father, echoing Matar’s own biography.
* ***Maps of the Soul* (1973; Eng. trans. later)** – *Ahmad Ibrahim al-Faqih*
* An ambitious Libyan epic spanning multiple volumes; the English translation is condensed but still richly layered.

***

### 🇪🇬 **Egypt** (if you're open to including the broader North African/Mashreq edge)

While Egypt is technically North African and has its own major literary tradition, just a few highlights:

* ***The Cairo Trilogy* (1956–1957)** – *Naguib Mahfouz* (Nobel Prize 1988)
* A sweeping family saga across three generations. Classic modern Arabic literature.
* ***Woman at Point Zero* (1975)** – *Nawal El Saadawi*
* Based on a true story. A feminist, existential novel about a woman condemned to death. Lean and searing.
* ***Zaat* (1992)** – *Sonallah Ibrahim*
* A biting, satirical novel about modern Egyptian society, bureaucracy, and media manipulation.

Matt Jackson

The Glasgow International Literature Group

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