The Most Famous

WRITERS from Algeria

This page contains a list of the greatest Algerian Writers. The pantheon dataset contains 5,794 Writers, 19 of which were born in Algeria. This makes Algeria the birth place of the 46th most number of Writers behind Estonia and Syria.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Algerian Writers of all time. This list of famous Algerian Writers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Algerian Writers.

1. Albert Camus (1913 - 1960)

With an HPI of 88.59, Albert Camus is the most famous Algerian Writer. His biography has been translated into 125 different languages on wikipedia.

Albert Camus ( kam-OO, US also kə-MOO, French: [albɛʁ kamy] (listen); 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, and journalist. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44 in 1957, the second-youngest recipient in history. His works include The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Fall, and The Rebel. Camus was born in Algeria (a French colony at the time) to French Pieds Noirs parents. His citizenship was French. He spent his childhood in a poor neighbourhood and later studied philosophy at the University of Algiers. He was in Paris when the Germans invaded France during World War II in 1940. Camus tried to flee but finally joined the French Resistance where he served as editor-in-chief at Combat, an outlawed newspaper. After the war, he was a celebrity figure and gave many lectures around the world. He married twice but had many extramarital affairs. Camus was politically active; he was part of the left that opposed the Soviet Union because of its totalitarianism. Camus was a moralist and leaned towards anarcho-syndicalism. He was part of many organisations seeking European integration. During the Algerian War (1954–1962), he kept a neutral stance, advocating for a multicultural and pluralistic Algeria, a position that caused controversy and was rejected by most parties. Philosophically, Camus's views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. He is also considered to be an existentialist, even though he firmly rejected the term throughout his lifetime.

2. Apuleius (125 - 170)

With an HPI of 81.01, Apuleius is the 2nd most famous Algerian Writer. His biography has been translated into 61 different languages.

Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – c. 170 AD) was a Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He was a Numidian who lived under the Roman Empire and was from Madauros (now M'Daourouch, Algeria). He studied Platonism in Athens, travelled to Italy, Asia Minor, and Egypt, and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the attentions (and fortune) of a wealthy widow. He declaimed and then distributed a witty tour de force in his own defense before the proconsul and a court of magistrates convened in Sabratha, near ancient Tripoli, Libya. This is known as the Apologia. His most famous work is his bawdy picaresque novel, the Metamorphoses, otherwise known as The Golden Ass. It is the only Latin novel that has survived in its entirety. Being an immensely sophisticated narrative that opens up various perspectives onto a rich cultural and social life, Metamorphoses was underappreciated until recent decades. It relates the ludicrous adventures of one Lucius, who experiments with magic and is accidentally turned into a donkey. Lucius goes through various adventures before he is turned back into a human being by the goddess Isis.

3. Marcus Minucius Felix (110 - 260)

With an HPI of 70.30, Marcus Minucius Felix is the 3rd most famous Algerian Writer. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Marcus Minucius Felix (died c. 250 AD in Rome) was one of the earliest of the Latin apologists for Christianity. He was of Berber origin.Nothing is known of his personal history, and even the date at which he wrote can be only approximately ascertained as between AD 150 and 270. Jerome's De Viris Illustribus No. 58 speaks of him as "Romae insignis causidicus" [one of Rome's notable solicitors], but in that he is probably only improving on the expression of Lactantius who speaks of him as "non-ignobilis inter causidicos loci" [not unknown among solicitors].

4. Assia Djebar (1936 - 2015)

With an HPI of 69.92, Assia Djebar is the 4th most famous Algerian Writer. Her biography has been translated into 42 different languages.

Fatima-Zohra Imalayen (30 June 1936 – 6 February 2015), known by her pen name Assia Djebar (Arabic: آسيا جبار‎), was an Algerian novelist, translator and filmmaker. Most of her works deal with obstacles faced by women, and she is noted for her feminist stance. She is "frequently associated with women's writing movements, her novels are clearly focused on the creation of a genealogy of Algerian women, and her political stance is virulently anti-patriarchal as much as it is anti-colonial." Djebar is considered to be one of North Africa's pre-eminent and most influential writers. She was elected to the Académie française on 16 June 2005, the first writer from the Maghreb to achieve such recognition. For the entire body of her work she was awarded the 1996 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. She was often named as a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

5. Bernard-Henri Lévy (1948 - )

With an HPI of 69.89, Bernard-Henri Lévy is the 5th most famous Algerian Writer. His biography has been translated into 37 different languages.

Bernard-Henri Lévy (; French: [bɛʁnaʁ ɑ̃ʁi levi]; born 5 November 1948) is a French public intellectual. Often referred to in France simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" (New Philosophers) movement in 1976. In 2015, The Boston Globe said that he is "perhaps the most prominent intellectual in France today". His opinions, political activism and publications have also been the subject of several controversies over the years.

6. Robert Merle (1908 - 2004)

With an HPI of 69.76, Robert Merle is the 6th most famous Algerian Writer. His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Robert Merle (French: [mɛʁl]; 28 August 1908 – 27 March 2004) was a French novelist.

7. Hélène Cixous (1937 - )

With an HPI of 67.33, Hélène Cixous is the 7th most famous Algerian Writer. Her biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Hélène Cixous (; French: [siksu]; born 5 June 1937) is a professor, French feminist writer, poet, playwright, philosopher, literary critic and rhetorician. Cixous is best known for her article "The Laugh of the Medusa", which established her as one of the early thinkers in post-structural feminism. She founded the first centre of feminist studies at a European university at the Centre universitaire de Vincennes of the University of Paris (today's University of Paris VIII).She holds honorary degrees from Queen's University and the University of Alberta in Canada; University College Dublin in Ireland; the University of York and University College London in the UK; and Georgetown University, Northwestern University, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the USA. In 2008 she was appointed as A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University until June 2014.

8. Kateb Yacine (1929 - 1989)

With an HPI of 66.44, Kateb Yacine is the 8th most famous Algerian Writer. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Kateb Yacine (Arabic pronunciation: [kæːtb jæːsiːn] (2 August 1929 or 6 August 1929 – 28 October 1989) was an Algerian Amazigh writer notable for his novels and plays, both in French and Algerian Arabic, and his advocacy of the Berber cause.

9. Mohammed Dib (1920 - 2003)

With an HPI of 65.01, Mohammed Dib is the 9th most famous Algerian Writer. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Mohammed Dib (Arabic: محمد ديب‎; 21 July 1920 – 2 May 2003) was an Algerian author. He wrote over 30 novels, as well as numerous short stories, poems, and children's literature in the French language. He is probably Algeria's most prolific and well-known writer. His work covers the breadth of 20th century Algerian history, focusing on Algeria's fight for independence.

10. Isaac Alfasi (1013 - 1103)

With an HPI of 65.01, Isaac Alfasi is the 10th most famous Algerian Writer. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi ha-Cohen (1013–1103) (Hebrew: ר' יצחק אלפסי‎, Arabic: إسحاق الفاسي‎) - also known as the Alfasi or by his Hebrew acronym Rif (Rabbi Isaac al-Fasi), was an Algerian Talmudist and posek (decider in matters of halakha - Jewish law). He is best known for his work of halakha, the legal code Sefer Ha-halachot, considered the first fundamental work in halakhic literature. His name "Alfasi" means "of Fez" in Arabic, but opinions differ as to whether he ever lived in Fez.

People

Pantheon has 19 people classified as writers born between 110 and 1955. Of these 19, 4 (21.05%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living writers include Bernard-Henri Lévy, Hélène Cixous, and Yasmina Khadra. The most famous deceased writers include Albert Camus, Apuleius, and Marcus Minucius Felix. As of October 2020, 4 new writers have been added to Pantheon including Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari, Emmanuel Roblès, and Jean Amrouche.