Kamel Daoud (Arabic:كمال داود; born June 17, 1970) is an Algerian writer and journalist.
Kamel Daoud was born inMostaganem, Algeria, on June 17, 1970. The oldest of six children, he was raised in anArabic-speakingMuslim family in Algeria.[1]
He studiedFrench literature at theUniversity of Oran.[1]
In 1994, Daoud began working forLe Quotidien d'Oran, a French-language Algerian newspaper. He published his first column three years later,[2] titled "Raina raikoum" ("Our opinion, your opinion").[3] He was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper for eight years.[4] In 2011 he was editor of the paper and still writing the column.[3]
As of 2015[update] he was a columnist in various media, an editorialist in the online newspaperAlgérie-Focus and his articles are also published inSlate Afrique.[5]
Daoud'sdebut novel,The Meursault Investigation (in French,Meursault, contre-enquête) (2013), won thePrix Goncourt du Premier Roman (Goncourt Prize for a First Novel),[6] as well as the prix François Mauriac and thePrix des cinq continents de la francophonie. It was also shortlisted for thePrix Renaudot.[7]
In April 2015, an excerpt fromMeursault, contre-enquête was featured in theNew Yorker magazine.[8] The November 20, 2015, issue of theNew York Times featured an op-ed opinion piece by Daoud titled "Saudi Arabia, an ISIS That Has Made It" in both English (translated by John Cullen) and French.[9] The February 14, 2016, issue of theNew York Times featured a controversial[10] second op-ed piece by Daoud, "The Sexual Misery of the Arab World" in English (translated by John Cullen), French, and Arabic.[11] Both of these articles were republished in his 2017 collection of essaysMes Indépendances.[12]
In 2018, hisLe Quotidien d'Oran articles (2010-2016) were translated into English.[13]
In 2024, his novelHouris was awarded thePrix Goncourt.[14]
On 13 December 2014, onOn n'est pas couché onFrance 2 TV channel, Daoud said of his relationship to Islam: "I still believe it: if we do not decide in the so-called Arab world the question of God, we will not rehabilitate the man, we will not move forward, he said. The religious question becomes vital in the Arab world. We must slice it, we must think about it in order to move forward".[15]
Three days later, Abdelfattah Hamadache Zeraoui, aSalafistimam at the time working onEchourouk News, responded to this statement by declaring that Daoud should be put to death for saying it, writing that "if Islamicsharia were applied in Algeria, the penalty would be death for apostasy and heresy." He specified: "He questioned the Qur'an as well as the sacred Islam; he wounded the Muslims in their dignity and praised the West and theZionists. He attacked theArabic language [...]. We call on the Algerian regime to condemn him to death publicly, because of his war against God, his Prophet, his book, Muslims and their countries."[15]
Zeraoui then reiterated his threats onEnnahar TV, an extension of the Arabic dailyEnnahar newspaper.[16]
Daoud filed a complaint in Algerian court and the judiciary delivered a judgment on March 8, 2016 that Daoud's attorney called "unprecedented": Zeraoui was sentenced to three to six months in prison and a 50,000-dinar fine.[17] However, the judgment was set aside in June 2016 by the Oran Court of Appeal on the basis of a jurisdiction challenge.[18]
Daoud was married but divorced in 2008, after the birth of his daughter as his wife had become increasingly religious. He is a father of two children, and dedicated his novelThe Meursault Investigation to them.[19]
 |
| Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Musa | 2015 | Daoud, Kamel (April 6, 2015)."Musa".The New Yorker.91 (7). Translated from the French by John Cullen:66–73. | Excerpt fromThe Meursault Investigation |
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