Maïssa Bey is the nom de plume of Samia Benameur (born 1950), an Algerian educator and writer.

Life

She was born in

Ksar Boukhari Ksar Boukhari is a town and commune in Médéa Province, Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , c ...

and teaches French in Sidi-Bel-Abbès in western Algeria. In 1996, she published her first novel ''Au commencement était la mer''. Her story collection ''Nouvelles d'Algérie'' was published in 1998 and received the Grand Prix de la nouvelle of the

Société des gens de lettres Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

. Her 2001 novel ''Cette fille-là'' was awarded the Prix Marguerite Audoux. In 2005, she received the Grand Prix des libraires algériens for her work to date. She was a co-founder of the Chèvre-feuille étoilée publishing house. In 2000, she helped establish Paroles et écriture, a cultural association of Algerian women.

Selected works

* ''Au commencement etait la mer'', novel (1996) * ''Nouvelles d'Algerie'', stories (1998) * ''Cette fille-la'', novel (2001) * ''Entendez-vous dans les montagnes'', novel (2002); English translation, ''Do You Hear in the Mountains'' (2018) * ''Surtout ne te retourne pas'', novel (2005); English translation, ''Above All, Don't Look Back'' (2009) * ''Sous le jasmin la nuit'', stories (2004) * ''Bleu, blanc, vert'', novel (2006), received the

Cezam Prix Littéraire Inter CE The Cezam Prix Litteraire Inter CE is a literary prize which was established in France in 1997. Its judging panel of more than 3600 readers who meet in groups to discuss, critique and individually rate the books, makes it one of the largest adjud ...

* ''Pierre, Sang, Papier ou Cendre'', novel (2008), received the Grand Prix du roman francophone SILA * ''L'une et l'autre'', autobiography (2009) * ''Puisque mon cœur est mort'', novel (2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bey, Maissa 1950 births Living people Algerian novelists Algerian women short story writers Algerian short story writers Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century Algerian writers 20th-century Algerian women writers 21st-century Algerian writers 21st-century Algerian women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers