Yasmina Khadra (real name Mohammed Moulessehoul) was born in 1955 in Kénadsa, in the Algerian Sahara.
At the age of nine he was sent to a boarding school that prepares pupils from an early age for a military career. He managed to resist this closed-minded, oppressive world by taking refuge in reading and by starting to write at an early age.
An officer since 1978, in the ’80s he published short stories and novels that stirred controversy in his milieu: this prompted his decision to use pseudonyms, the last of which was adopted from his wife’s name.
In 2000 he left the army to devote himself solely to literature. In 2001 he moved to France and revealed his true identity, maintaining however his nom de plume under which he had in the meantime achieved great fame.
What initially brought him to the attention of the public were his detective novels, but his writing covered various genres, from autobiographical memoirs to pamphlets and novels based on highly-charged current issues: it was these in particular, located in the most tormented places on the planet, that brought him international fame.
His works have sold over 40 million copies throughout the world. Some of them have been made into films, adapted for the theatre and choreographed and turned into graphic novels.
The prestigious acknowledgements he has been awarded include the Médaille de Vermeil de l’Académie Française, the Grand Prix de Littérature Henri Gal for his work as a whole and the Time for Peace Literature Award.
Yasmina Khadra is also Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur and Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Morituri – E/O, 1998 (2006)
Doppio bianco – E/O, 1999 (2001)
Cosa sognano i lupi? – Feltrinelli, 2001 (2008)
Le rondini di Kabul – Mondadori, 2003 (2007)
Cugina K – Edizioni Lavoro, 2003 (2006)
La parte del morto – Mondadori, 2005 (2010)
L’attentatrice – Mondadori, 2006 (2009)
Le Sirene di Baghdad – Mondadori, 2007 (2009)
Gli agnelli del Signore – Mondadori, 2009
La rosa di Blida – Nottetempo, 2009
Quel che il giorno deve alla notte – Mondadori, 2009 (2010)
L’equazione africana – Marsilio, 2012
Gli angeli muoiono delle nostre ferite – Sellerio, 2014
Cosa aspettano le scimmie a diventare uomini – Sellerio, 2015
L’ultima notte del Rais – Sellerio, 2015
L’attentato (re-edition of L’attentatrice) – Sellerio, 2016