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Algerian-French writer Boualem Sansal elected to Belgium’s Royal Academy
Franco-Algerian author Boualem Sansal, who has been imprisoned in Algeria for nearly a year, has been elected to the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium, the institution’s permanent secretary Yves Namurannounced on Monday.
“Boualem Sansal embodies the creative function of the writer, which is inseparable from the freedom in which it is exercised,” the Academy said in a statement. The institution had previously honored him in 2007 with its Francophone Literature Prize.
The 80-year-old author, who has been ill and incarcerated since November 2024 for “undermining national unity,”saw his five-year prison sentence confirmed on July 1, 2025, by an Algerian appeals court.
Founded in 1920, the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium has 40 members, similar to the Académie française, but uniquely reserves ten seats for foreign members.