Jean el Mouhouv Amrouche (7 February 1906 in Ighil Ali,

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

– 16 April 1962 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France) was an Algerian francophone writer, poet and journalist.

Biography

Jean el Mouhouv Amrouche was born February 7, 1906, in Ighil Ali, in the valley of Soumman, in

petite Kabylie Petite Kabylie or Petite Kabylia (Berber language, Berber: Tamurt n Iqbayliyen, Arabic: al-Qabā'il as-Saghra, القبائل الصغرى, Maghrebi Arabic: Qbayel es-Sghira) is a natural region in the mountainous area of northern Algeria. The Pet ...

. Amrouche emigrated with his family to

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

while still young. Jean had his secondary education at Alaoui college and then left for the ''Ecole Normale Superieure de Saint-Cloud''. He intends to become a teacher. The poet Armand Guibert made him known in Tunisia by publishing his two collections of poems, ''Cendres'' (poems 1928–1934) in 1934 and ''Étoile secrète'' in 1937. He wrote at that time (poems, literary criticism) in Tunisian journals and gave lectures at the ''Cercle de l'Essor'' in Tunis. For several years with his friend Armand Guibert, he visited many countries in Europe. In 1943, he joined the Ministry of Information in Algiers, then the

Radiodiffusion Française Radiodiffusion Française (RDF) was a French public institution responsible for public service broadcasting. Created in 1944 as a state monopoly (replacing Radiodiffusion Nationale), RDF worked to rebuild its extensive network, destroyed during t ...

. He was the older brother of fellow writer

Taos Amrouche Marie-Louise-Taos Amrouche (born 4 March 1913 in Tunis, Tunisia; died 2 April 1976 in Saint-Michel-l'Observatoire, France) was an Algerian writer and singer. In 1947, she became the first Algerian woman to publish a novel. Biography She was ...

. Both were the children of

Fadhma Aït Mansour Marguerite-Fadhma Aït Mansour Amrouche ( in Tizi Hibel, Algeria – July 9, 1967 in Saint-Brice-en-Coglès, France) was a poet and folksinger. Biography She was born in 1882 in a Kabylie village, the illegitimate daughter of a widow. Fa ...

, author of ''History of My Life''. He died on 16 April 1962 at his home in Paris; he is buried in Sargé-sur-Braye in Loir-et-Cher.

Selected works

* ''Chants Berbères de Kabylie'', 1939 * ''Etoile Secrète'', 1937 * ''Cendres : poèmes, 1928–1934'', 1934

External links

Information in French

References

1906 births 1962 deaths People from Ighil Ali Kabyle people Algerian Roman Catholics French-language poets French Roman Catholics French people of Kabyle descent Algerian male poets 20th-century Algerian poets Berber poets Berber writers Berber Christians 20th-century male writers Migrants from French Algeria to France {{Algeria-writer-stub