Leïla Sebbar was born in Aflou, Algeria, in 1941. Her father, Mohammed Sebbar, a Francophile Algerian, had met her French mother Renée Bordas while he was studying in France, and brought her back to Algeria to make a life together. Mohammed Sebbar was the schoolmaster at a boys’ school, and Renée took care of the household, creating a “little France” in Algeria (Sebbar 2008, 69). The language spoken in the household was French: Sebbar’s mother did not speak Arabic, and her father, though he spoke Arabic in all other areas of his professional and personal life, spoke French at home. Sebbar grew up with no awareness that Arabic was her father’s mother tongue, and was brought up with a cultural awareness restricted to a French context. This led to significant difficulties later…
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Citation: Vassallo, Helen. "Leïla Sebbar". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 August 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13240, accessed 24 November 2024.]
