Isbilia

Author, translator, and scholar Albert Bensoussan was born in Algiers into a traditional Jewish family that traced its roots to medieval Spain and North Africa. He received a doctorate in Iberian studies and taught at the Bugeaud High School in Algiers until 1963, as well as at the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Rennes, from 1978 to 1995. Although he grew up in a world deeply attached to French culture and language, many of his novels portray the Judeo-Arabic universe of his daily life. Bensoussan published several scholarly works before writing his first novel, Les Bagnoulis (1965) which recounts the decline of French Algeria. In addition to fiction he has published many translations, especially from Spanish. In 1976, his novel Frimaldjezar won the Prix de l’Afrique méditerranéenne and was translated into Spanish.