Habib Tengour

Habib Tengour was born in 1947 in Mostaganem, Algeria, and raised on the Arab and Berber voices of marketplace storytellers. He has lived most of his life between Algeria and Paris, where he now is based. Trained as an anthropologist and sociologist, he has taught at universities in both countries, while emerging over the years as one of the Maghreb’s most forceful and visionary contemporary Francophone voices. Himself a specialist in the literature of the Maghreb, he edited and prefaced the edition of Mohammed Dib’s complete poems. His own work has been translated into German and Italian; a collection translated by Pierre Joris was published by Black Widow Press. Author of poetry, fiction, nonfiction narratives and essays, his books include Le Vieux de la Montagne (Sindbad, Paris, 1983), Gravité de l’ange (Éditions de La Différence, Paris, 2004), L’Arc et la cicatrice (Éditions de la Différence, 2006) and L’Ancêtre cinéphile (Éditions de La Différence, Paris, 2010).