Le Grand Témoin brings leading public figures into the spotlight through in-depth conversations about their lives, their work and the major questions shaping their thinking and commitments. Boualem Sansal will discuss the books that have left their mark on French literature and the personal journey that led to his election to the Académie française. He will also reflect on his family ties to Morocco and the events that took him from imprisonment in Algeria to his release and subsequent move to France. His latest book, La Légende (2026), will provide another thread of the conversation, exploring questions of justice, power and the inner freedom of the writer.
An engineer with a doctorate in economics and a former senior civil servant, Sansal made his literary debut in 1999 with Le Serment des barbares. His subsequent works include Le Village de l’Allemand, Rue Darwin and 2084. La fin du monde, which won the Académie française’s Grand Prix du Roman in 2015. He also received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 2011 and the Cino Del Duca World Prize in 2025. He was elected to the Académie française on January 29, 2026.
His writing and life, both deeply shaped by his commitment to human freedom, were honored in France on Monday, October 19, when he was awarded a doctorate in literature.
Le Grand Témoin will mark Sansal’s first reunion with a Moroccan audience since his release, and more broadly his first such encounter with audiences from across the Maghreb and the Arab world.
Event details
- Date: Thursday, October 29, 2026
- Time: 7 p.m.
- Venue: Hyatt Regency Casablanca
- Admission: Free, with limited seating
Press contact: Hajar Kharroubi
Phone: +212 650-090019
Email: h.kharroubi@le360.ma
