Novelist Boualem Sansal elected to Académie Française after prison ordeal

Posted on January 29, 2026
By Le Monde
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Novelist Boualem Sansal elected to Académie Française after prison ordeal

Founded in 1635, the academy is tasked with maintaining the purity of the French language and publishes an official dictionary. Sansal spent almost a year imprisoned in Algeria over comments about the country, but was pardoned by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune last November.