‘Yasmina Khadra’

Which language should we speak to get through to radicalized young people? How can we respond to radicalism?

Khalil, Yasmina Khadra's new book, follows the life of a young man who is about to blow himself up. With breath-taking precision the writer analyses the mind of a suicide bomber, exploring the borders between a vulnerable lucidity and the unbearable pain of insanity. The writer seeks to provide answers to the many questions this subject raises.

Yasmina Khadra is not only a celebrated writer but also a former presidential candidate in the Algerian elections. His literary work was been much praised by Nobel prize-winners such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, J.M. Coetzee and Orhan Pamuk. His novels have been translated in 50 languages, adapted for theatre and graphic novels, and made into animations (The Swallows of Kabul, 2002) and feature-length films (Morituri, 1997, What the Day Owes the Night, 2008 and The Attack, 2005).

The day after his lecture at BOZAR he will attend the premiere of the stage adaptation of his novel The Attack at the Théâtre National, and on Thursday October 4, Les Midis de la Poésie present Des matins qui se lèvent sur d'autres nuits / Le roman sur les planches with Yasmina Khadra.

Moderation: Walid