Assia Djebbar’s life and career, international colloquium theme in Oran

An international colloquium theme dedicated to the Algerian woman of letters Assia Djebbar will be organized May 5-6 in Oran (432-km west of Algiers) by the Letters, Speech, Civilizations and Literature Department at the University of Oran. Under the theme “Assia Djebbar: the Career of a Woman of Letters, Literature, Resistance and Transmission,” the two-day scientific meeting will pay tribute to this writer and adopt “an interdisciplinary and polyphonic approach of her work and her particular contribution in Algerian and Maghreb literature,” as underlined by the organizers. Teachers and researchers of many local and foreign universities (France, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, Italy, Mexico and Japan) will broach the work of the most known Algerian writer, universally crowned and renowned and also most studied, the colloquium’s organizers said. The colloquium will shed light on Djabar’s work in six axes: “architecture of Djabar’s text,” “memory and quest for identity,” “writing and desire,” “literary and film approach,” “The ego in history and language,” and “female voice and speech.” Assia Djebar, 78, whose real name is Fatima Zohra Imalayene is writer of novels, short stories, essays and poems. Her most important works include “les Enfants du Nouveau Monde” (The Children of the New World, 1962), “Les Alouettes Naives” (the Naive Larks,  1967), “Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement” (Algiers Women in Their Apartment, 1980), “L’amour, la fantasia” (Love, the Fantasia, 1985), “Ombre sultane” (Sultana Shadow, 1987), “Loin de Medine” (Far from Madinah, 1991), “Nulle part dans la maison de mon pere” (Nowhere in my Father’s House, 2007). In addition to her talents as a writer, Assia Djebar also produced two long documentaries, namely “La Nouba des femmes du Mont Chenoua” (The Nouba of the Women of Mount Chenoua, 1978), “La Zerda ou les chants de l’oubli” (The Zerda or the Songs of the Oversight, 1982).