Early life

Leïla Sebbar was born on November 9, 1941, in Aflou. She is the daughter of a French mother and an Algerian father. She grew up in French Algeria and left for Paris when she was seventeen. She currently lives in Paris.

Career

Sebbar writes in French about the relationship between France and Algeria. She often compares images from both countries to show how their cultures are different. She writes about many topics and uses either made-up stories or psychology to explain her ideas. Many of her books talk about the challenges faced by the Beur, a group of young people born in France to parents from Algeria and other parts of North Africa. These young people have not yet fully become part of French society.

Her book Parle mon fils, parle à ta mère (1984; Talk my son, talk to your mother) shows the lack of communication between two generations who do not share the same language. The story follows the final day of a man who moved from Algeria to France as a young man looking for work. It describes his past and his views on Muslim society and the "3 witches." Readers learn that the man is not afraid of the "witches" but is afraid of dying alone, without another Muslim person to read prayers for him.

Sebbar does not give her characters names to keep the story mysterious and to make it feel more general. This choice allows readers to see the story as something that could happen to many people, especially those seeking safety.

In 2016, Sebbar was honored with the title of Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.

Selected publications

• An Algerian Childhood: A Collection of Autobiographical Narratives. St. Paul, MN: Ruminator Books, 2001. Translated from the French by Marjolijn de Jager. ISBN 1886913498 OCLC 45375005
• Arabic as a Secret Song. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2015. Translated by Skyler Artes. ISBN 9780813937564 OCLC 893452423
• Confessions of a Madman. Victoria, TX: Dalkey Archive Press, 2016. Translated by Rachel Crovello. ISBN 9781564787606 OCLC 926743720
• The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008. Translated by Mildred Mortimer. ISBN 9780253352460 OCLC 216935804
• Sherazade. London: Quartet, 1999. Translated by Dorothy S. Blair. ISBN 0704381257 OCLC 50381512
• Silence on the Shores. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. Translated and with an introduction by Mildred Mortimer. ISBN 0803242859 OCLC 43607481

General references

• du Plessis, Nancy (1989) "Leïla Sebbar, Voice of Exile," World Literature Today 63: 3 (Summer 1989), pages 415–17
• Engelking, T. L. (2007). "‘Shérazade’ at the Museum: A Visual Approach to Teaching Leila Sebbar's Novel." The French Review 80 (3), pages 620–635.
• Merini, R. (1999). Two major Francophone women writers, Assia Djébar and Leïla Sebbar: a thematic study of their works. Francophone cultures and literatures, volume 5. New York: P. Lang. ISBN 978-0-8204-2635-8
• Mortimer, Mildred (1988). "Language and space in the fiction of Assua Djebar and Leila Sebbar," Research in African Literatures 19 (fall 1988), pages 301–11
• Mortimer, Mildred (1992). "On the Road: Leïla Sebbar's fugitive heroines," Research in African Literatures 23: 2 (summer 1992), pages 195–201
• Parekh, P. N., & Jagne, S. F. (1998). Postcolonial African writers: a bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
• Vassallo, H. (2011). "Re-mapping Algeria(s) in France: Leïla Sebbar's Mes Algéries en France and Journal de mes Algéries en France," Modern & Contemporary France, 19, 2, pages 129–145.