Nina Bouraoui

Yasmina "Nina" Bouraoui (Ar:نينا بو راوي, born 1967) is a French novelist and song-writer born in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, of an Algerian father and a French mother.^[1] She spent the first fourteen years of her life in Algiers, then Zürich and Abu Dhabi. She now lives in Paris.

Her novels are mostly written in the first person and, with the exception of Avant les hommes (Before the Men), have been said by the author to be works of "auto-fiction". This is even the case for Le Bal des Murènes (The ball of moray eels), which, like Avant les hommes, has a male narrator. Since writing her first novel in 1991, Bouraoui has affirmed the influence of Marguerite Duras in her work, although the life narratives and works many other artists are also to be found in her novels (and songs). This is particularly true of Mes Mauvaises Pensées (My Bad Thoughts) which bears the imprint of Hervé Guibert, Annie Ernaux, David Lynch, Eileen Gray, and Violette Leduc amongst others. Questions of identity, desire, memory, writing, childhood and celebrity culture are some of the major themes of her work.

Works

• La Voyeuse interdite (1991, Prix du Livre Inter 1991)
• Poing mort (1992)
• Le Bal des murènes (1996)
• L'Âge blessé (1998)
• Le Jour du séisme (1999)
• Garçon manqué (2000)
• La Vie heureuse (2002)
• Poupée Bella (2004)
• Mes mauvaises Pensées (2005, Prix Renaudot)
• Avant les hommes (2007)
• Appelez-moi par mon prénom (2008)
• Nos baisers sont des adieux (2010)
• Sauvage (2011)

In 2007, she wrote two songs for Céline Dion titled "Immensité" and "Les paradis", set to music respectively by Jacques Veneruso and Gildas Arzel. These songs were featured on Céline Dion's latest album, D'elles, which came out 21 May 2007.

External links

• (French) Page dedicated to Nina Bouraoui in Littératures du Maghreb
• (French) Article in L'Express
• (French) Présentation in Lire
• (French) La Beurgeoisie The French website for successful "Beurs".

References