Tahar Ouettar ( ar, الطاهر وطار; 1936 – August 12, 2010) was an Algerian writer. Ouettar was called "one of the
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
n nation’s most prolific
Arabic language
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
authors".
Born into a
Berber
Berber or Berbers may refer to:
Ethnic group
* Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa
* Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages
Places
* Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile
People with the surname
* Ady Berber (1913–19 ...
family in
Sedrata
Sedrata ( Berber: Isedraten, ar, سدراتة) is a municipality and large city in Souk Ahras Province, Algeria, capital of Sedrata District. It has a population of 110.213 as of the 2019 census, which gives it 11 seats in the PMA. Its municipa ...
, he was a supporter of arabization in the wake of Algerian independence. The essence of his project, he once said, was to “liberate Algerian identity to make it Arab-Berber-
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
ic.” He denounced Algeria's French-language writers as "vestiges of colonialism". Ouettar published his first novel "Al Laz" in 1974.
Tahar Wattar, Algerian author wrote in Arabic
Boston Globe via Associated Press, August 14, 2010 While steadfast in his assault on francophone writers, he defended the use of the Berber language. It was he who founded the Algeria Quran Radio
Algeria Quran Radio is an Algerian Islamic radio channel.
Broadcast
Affiliated with Radio Algeria, this Islamic radio began broadcasting on July 12, 1991 on medium waves (MW), with an hourly rate of daily broadcasting of only six hours a day, ...
on July 12, 1991.
In English
* ''The Earthquake'', trans. by William Granara William Granara is an American author, translator and scholar of Arabic language and literature. He studied at Georgetown University and the University of Pennsylvania, obtaining his PhD from the latter in Arabic and Islamic studies. He has worked ...
, Saqi Books (2000)
References
1936 births
2010 deaths
Algerian writers
People from Souk Ahras Province
Chaoui people
21st-century Algerian people
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