![Algerian flags flutter in front of the People's National Assembly (parliament) building in the capital Algiers, on 10 September 2020 [RYAD KRAMDI/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/GettyImages-1228435480.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Algeria’s Arabic publishing house MIM Edition announced yesterday that it is suspending business following an online backlash over an award-winning novel criticised for perceived inappropriate content.
“We announce that MIM closed its doors effective immediately in the face of the wind and the fire,” the publisher said. “We were nothing but advocates of peace and love, and we sought nothing but to spread that.”
According to The National, the novel at the centre of the controversy, Houaria, by Algerian writer Inaam Bayoud, has faced criticism on social media over the book’s alleged “indecent” content and claims that it contains vulgar expressions in the Algerian Arabic Darija dialect. The novel won the prestigious Assia Djebar Grand Prize last Tuesday.
La maison Edition algérienne MIM Édition annonce sa fermeture après la polémique suscitée par la publication de ” #Houaria ” de Bayoud. Roman, qui a remporté le Prix #AssiaDjebar, a déclenché des critiques pour son contenu jugé immoral#TesYeuxSurLeMonde https://t.co/x0VG29cf37
— AlAin Français (@AlainFrNews) July 16, 2024
However, the backlash has prompted support from several Algerian intellectuals, who highlighted the double standards faced by women in Algerian society.
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“The Inaam Bayoud affair highlights in broad terms the hypocrisy of a part of the people who absolutely do not want to face their contradictions under the cover of a sometimes overrated bigotry,” said veteran journalist Hassan Moali on Facebook.
Amina Belaala, a member of the Assia Djebar Grand Prize jury, denied the existence of any profanity in the novel. “We did not see in those few words any affront to morality, religion or modesty,” she said. Belaala criticised those who labelled the novel indecent after reading only a few pages, and praised Bayoud’s “precise narrative and character construction.”
The novel tells the story of Houaria, a female fortune teller in Oran, whose clients’ stories reflect the multiple layers of Algerian society. Bayoud uses her character to explore critical stages in the North African country’s history, drawing on the diaries of a socially marginalised group.
MIM Edition, established by editor Assia Ali Moussa in 2007, has been a prominent Algiers-based publisher supporting young Algerian women by publishing novels, poetry, plays and literary research.
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