Dinner & a Reading with Algerian Novelist Anouar Rahmani

November 15, 5:00pm-6:30pm

Posner Grand Room (340 Posner Hall)

CAS has sponsored this event in support of CMU's Artists and Scholars at Risk (ASAR) program.

The Center for the Arts in Society is hosting a discussion/workshop of Algerian writer Anouar Rahmani's novel-in-progress. Rahmani will read excerpts from his work, and Nevine Abraham (Department of Modern Languages) and Sharon Dilworth (Department of English) will lead participants in a discussion to provide Rahmani with feedback for further development of the work.

Anouar Rahmani is a writer and human rights defender from Algeria. He is the author of four novels in Arabic, including Hallucinations of Jibril and What God is Hiding from Us. Through his creative writing, journalism, and activism, Rahmani advocates for individual freedoms, environmental rights, and the rights of minorities, women, and the LGBT+ community. In 2015, he was the first person to demand same-sex marriage in Algeria publicly.

Rahmani holds a License in Public Law and a Master’s in State and Institutional Law from the University of Morsli Abdallah. During the 2019 Algerian Revolution, he composed a new model for the Algerian constitution. Anouar has received support from PEN International during instances of judicial harassment he faced in Algeria due to his activism, novels, and journalism. In 2021, he was shortlisted for the Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards and selected by the German Bundestag’s Protection Program “Parliamentarians for Parliamentarians.” Rahmani is a writer in residence at City of Asylum.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages.