Aïcha Lemsine
Aïcha Lemsine, the pen name of Aïcha Laidi (born 1942), is an Algerian writer writing in French.
She was born near Tébessa.[1] She is an advocate for women's rights. She has been vice-president of the Women's World Organization for Rights, Literature, and Development and served on the PEN club's International Women's Committee.[2] She was forced to leave Algeria because she was considered a dangerous person by Islamic militants.[1][3]
Lemsine's first two novels are based on events around the time of the Algerian War of Independence.[4] Her work has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and English.[1]
In 1995, she was awarded a Hellman-Hammett Grant by Human Rights Watch to support her work.[3][1]
Lemsine married the diplomat Ali Laidi.[1]
The name Lemsine is constructed from the Arabic letters (ل pronounced "lām") (L) and (س pronounced "sīn") (S), which are the first letters of her married and birth surnames.[5]
Selected works[2]
- La chrysalide: Chroniques algeriennes, novel (1976), translated into English as "The Chrysalis"
- Ciel de porphyre, novel (1978), translated into English as "Beneath a Sky of Porphyry"
- Ordalie des voix, essay (1983)
- Au Cœur du Hezbollah, essay (2008) ("In the heart of Hezbollah")[6]
References
- ^ a b c d e Alfaro, Margarita; Mangada, Beatriz (2014). Atlas literario intercultural. Xenografías femeninas en Europa (in Spanish). p. 75. ISBN 848359319X.
- ^ a b Naylor, Phillip C (2015). Historical Dictionary of Algeria. p. 354. ISBN 0810879190.
- ^ a b Bertucci, Mary Lou (1996). Encyclopedia of Human Rights. p. 670. ISBN 1560323620.
- ^ Schirmer, Robert; Gikandi, Simon (2003). Encyclopedia of African Literature. p. 399. ISBN 1134582234.}
- ^ Room, Adrian (2012). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins. p. 283. ISBN 0786457635.
- ^ Talhami, Ghada Hashem (2013). Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa. pp. 214–15. ISBN 081086858X.[permanent dead link]
External links
- Lemsine, Aicha (June 1995). "Muslim Scholars Face Down Fanaticism". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
- 1942 births
- Living people
- Algerian women novelists
- Pseudonymous writers
- Pseudonymous women writers
- Algerian journalists
- Algerian women's rights activists
- People from Tébessa
- 20th-century Algerian writers
- 20th-century Algerian women writers
- 21st-century Algerian writers
- 21st-century Algerian women writers
- Algerian women journalists