A conversation with Nina Bouraoui on ‘Satisfaction’
- Event type
- Seminar
- Address
- Online
- Speakers
- Nina Bouraoui (writer), Aneesa Abbas Higgins (translator), Helen Vassallo (University of Exeter)
- Event dates
- Contact
- ilcs@sas.ac.uk .
The renowned Francophone writer Nina Bouraoui and her translator Aneesa Abbas Higgins will be discussing Bouraoui's latest book Satisfaction (2021), forthcoming in English with Héloïse Press. They will be joined by Helen Vassallo, author of the Introduction to the English translation of Satisfaction.
The Algerian-French writer Nina Bourauoi is at the forefront of Francophone writing. She published her first book La voyeuse interdite in 1991 for which she received the Prix du Livre Inter that same year. In 2005, her book Mes Mauvaises Pensées was awarded the prestigious Prix Renaudot. Most of her books are written in the first-person, highlighting the intimacy of the text and the importance of the subjective experience. The situation of women in Algeria is a common topic in her books, usually in terms of a clash between the female body and the male gaze. Childhood is also an important source of inspiration for the author and it often relates to the Algerian landscape. What All Men Want to Know, translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins, was the recipient of a PEN Translates Award in 2020.
Satisfaction (2021) is the confluence between Bouraoui’s's autobiography and fiction. In her own words, 'it is both at the same time; literature merging with life and vice-versa'. Satisfaction represents an anti-heroine, a troubled motherhood that echoes the tumultuous political situation of Algeria in the late 1970s. Satisfaction has been a great success in France, selling more than 20,000 copies in the first month and it is nominated for both the Prix Fémina and the Prix Médicis 2021. Bouraoui's novels have been published into over 15 languages.
A discount code to purchase the book Satisfaction will be made available to all those who attend the event.
Aneesa Abbas Higgins is an award-winning translator who translates mostly literary fiction from French. Her translation of Nina Bouraoui’s All Men Want to Know (2021) was the recipient of a PEN Translates Award and her translation of Elisa Shua Dusapin’s Winter in Sokcho (2021) was the winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Translated Literature. Other authors she has translated include Tahar Ben Jelloun, Vénus Khoury-Ghata and Ali Zamir.
Helen Vassallo is Associate Professor of French and Translation at the University of Exeter. Her research focuses on women's writing, translation and contemporary French/Francophone literature. In 2018, she launched the Translating Women research project which analyses recent translation into English of women's writing by women translators.
The event will be in French with simultaneous interpretation in English.
The event will be in French with simultaneous interpretation in English.
All are welcome to attend this online talk starting at 4pm GMT. Registration in advance is essential to obtain the online joining link, using Book Now at the top of the page.
