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Salim Bachi (born 1971, Algiers) is an Algerian novelist who grew up inAnnaba, eastern Algeria. After a one-year stay in Paris in 1995, he returned there in 1997 to study literature. A pensioner at theFrench Academy in Rome in 2005, he now lives and works in Paris.
Born in 1971 in Algiers, he studied literature in Paris at the Sorbonne and in 2001 published his first novel,Le Chien d'Ulysse, atÉditions Gallimard, hailed by critics and rewarded by theprix Goncourt du premier roman. In Algeria he became "the most talented writer of his generation", embarking on an ambitious literary work on Algeria, and its history, from colonization to the most recent dark episodes, marked by Islamist terrorism. His first two novels are part of a novel cycle developed from an imaginary city, the ancient Cyrtha.
After a year of residence at the prestigious Villa Médicis in Rome, his third novel,Tuez-les tous ("Kill them all"), marked a turning point in his inspiration with the choice of a complex and painful subject. He put himself in the shoes of a terrorist of September 11, dissecting the mechanisms of violence and alienation of terrorists. He pursues the novelistic study of the religious fact - a never innocent choice - with his last novelLe silence de Mahomet, published in September 2008 and selected for thePrix Goncourt, the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens and thePrix Renaudot. In this book, the Prophet becomes the subject of a novel where four of his closest faithful, remember the man he was, with his doubts and hopes, weaknesses and greatness. Bachi achieved critical and public success.
Salim Bachi travels through Europe and the Maghreb to defend a certain idea of literature, giving lectures to students, readers, universities and cultural institutes. A resident at theAcadémie de France à Rome in 2005, he now lives and works in Paris.
The éditions Gallimard published five of his novels in theCollection Blanche,Le Chien d'Ulysse,La Kahéna,Tuez-les tous,Le silence de Mahomet andAmours et aventures de Sindbad le Marin, which were hailed by critics and won several literary prizes. He also published a book of short stories about malvie ("bad life") in Algeria entitledLes douze contes de minuit at the same publisher and a narrative of travel,Autoportrait avec Grenade, atéditions du Rocher. His books won the prix Tropiques, thePrix littéraire de la vocation, the Goncourt scholarship for premier roman and the prince Pierre de Monaco de la découverte scholarship.
His novelLe silence de Mahomet presentsa fictionalized and controversial vision of the Prophet Mohammed.
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