Aïcha Lemsine

Aïcha Lemsine, the pen name of Aïcha Laidi (born 1942), is an Algerian writer writing in French.

She was born near Tébessa.[1] She is an advocate for women's rights. She has been vice-president of the Women's World Organization for Rights, Literature, and Development and served on the PEN club's International Women's Committee.[2] She was forced to leave Algeria because she was considered a dangerous person by Islamic militants.[1][3]

Lemsine's first two novels are based on events around the time of the Algerian War of Independence.[4] Her work has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and English.[1]

In 1995, she was awarded a Hellman-Hammett Grant by Human Rights Watch to support her work.[3][1]

Lemsine married the diplomat Ali Laidi.[1]

The name Lemsine is constructed from the Arabic letters (ل pronounced "lām") (L) and (س pronounced "sīn") (S), which are the first letters of her married and birth surnames.[5]

Selected works[2]
  • La chrysalide: Chroniques algeriennes, novel (1976), translated into English as "The Chrysalis"
  • Ciel de porphyre, novel (1978), translated into English as "Beneath a Sky of Porphyry"
  • Ordalie des voix, essay (1983)
  • Au Cœur du Hezbollah, essay (2008) ("In the heart of Hezbollah")[6]

References
  1. Alfaro, Margarita; Mangada, Beatriz (2014). Atlas literario intercultural. Xenografías femeninas en Europa (in Spanish). p. 75. ISBN 848359319X.
  2. Naylor, Phillip C (2015). Historical Dictionary of Algeria. p. 354. ISBN 0810879190.
  3. Bertucci, Mary Lou (1996). Encyclopedia of Human Rights. p. 670. ISBN 1560323620.
  4. Schirmer, Robert; Gikandi, Simon (2003). Encyclopedia of African Literature. p. 399. ISBN 1134582234.}
  5. Room, Adrian (2012). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins. p. 283. ISBN 0786457635.
  6. Talhami, Ghada Hashem (2013). Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa. pp. 214–15. ISBN 081086858X.
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