12 Facts About Yasmina Khadra

Mohammed Moulessehoul, better known by the pen name Yasmina Khadra, is an Algerian author living in France, who writes in French.

Yasmina Khadra describes the beginning of his passion for writing in his autobiography entitled The Writer, in this way he was able to keep privacy that he missed in the cadet dormitories.

At age 23, Yasmina Khadra graduated from the Cherchell Military Academy, and joined the armed forces as a second lieutenant.

Yasmina Khadra has published three collections of short stories and three novels under his real name between 1984 and 1989.

Yasmina Khadra suffered three nervous breakdowns, escaped two ambushes and was three times forced to land in a helicopter.

Yasmina Khadra has written these novels with a European readership in mind as they focus on the psychological and social causes of Islamic fundamentalism using precise documentary detail and emotional intensity.

Yasmina Khadra's pseudonym posed initially a problem and rumours, from a public point of view it was a sensation:.

In 2011, Yasmina Khadra was awarded the honorary Henri Gal Grand Prize for Literature by the French Academy.

Yasmina Khadra's novels have been translated into 48 languages, and published in 56 countries.

Yasmina Khadra was removed from this position, after he had described the fourth term of President as "absurdity".

On 2 November 2013, Yasmina Khadra announced his candidacy for the presidency of Algeria.

Yasmina Khadra was however unable to qualify, collecting only 43,000 of the 90,000 signatures required.