Tahar Djaout (January 11, 1954 - June 2, 1993) was an Algerian journalist, poet, and fiction writer. He was assassinated by the rebel Armed Islamic Group because of his support of secularism and opposition to what he considered fanaticism. He was attacked on May 26, 1993, as he was leaving his home in Bainem, Algeria. He died on June 2, after lying in a coma for a week. One of his attackers professed that he was murdered because he "wielded a fearsome pen that could have an effect on Islamic sectors." He was born in Azeffoun, in the relatively secular Kabylie region. After his death the BBC made a documentary about him entitled 'Shooting the Writer', introduced by Salman Rushdie.

[edit] Work

• The Last Summer of Reason [Novel, Ruminator Books, 2001] (French edn: Le dernier été de la raison, Paris, Seuil, 1999]
• The Watchers [Novel, Ruminator Books] (French edn: Les Vigiles, Editions du Seuil, 1991)
• L'invention du Desert, [Novel, Editions du Seuil, 1987]
• Les Chercheurs d'Os [Novel, Editions du Seuil, 1984]
• Les Rets de l'oiseleur (short stories) [SNED, Algiers, 1983]
• L'oiseau minéral, poems, [Sigean, L'Orycte, 1982]
• L'exproprié, [Novel, SNED, Algiers, 1981]
• Insulaire et Cie, poems [Sigean, L'Orycte, 1980]
• L'Arche à vau-l'eau, poems [Editions Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, 1978]
• Solstice Barbelé, poems, [Editions Naaman, Québec, 1975]

[edit] External links

• Tahar Djaout [1]
• Silence is Death: The Life and Work of Tahar Djaout by Julija Sukys [2]
• "Islamists Killed Tahar Djaout: We Should Give Life to His Ideas," by Jennifer Bryson, January 16, 2009, The Public Discourse

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