Abdelkader Benali

Biography

Abdelkader Benali (b. 1975) wrote his debut, Bruiloft aan zee (Wedding by the Sea, 1996), aged 21. This astonishing novel, about a Dutch Moroccan who goes back to his home country in search of his sister’s deserted bridegroom, received the Geertjan Lubberhuizen Prize. Benali was awarded the Libris Literature Prize for his second novel, De langverwachte (The Long-Awaited, 2002). He has since published the novels Laat het morgen mooi weer zijn (Let Tomorrow Be Fine, 2005) and Feldman en ik (Feldman and I, 2006). He also writes plays and occasional pieces of journalism. In 2005, with the historian Herman Obdeijn, he published Marokko door Nederlandse ogen 1605-2005 (Morocco Through Dutch Eyes 1605-2005).

Titles

Let Tomorrow Be Fine

(Laat het morgen mooi weer zijn, 2005)

The third novel by Abdelkader Benali, Let Tomorrow Be Fine, is about Malik Ben, sent by his father on a cruise after his mother has died. During the trip the young man falls under the spell of a Spanish beauty; at her request, he leaves her with her brother in Tanger, while himself continuing his journey to his parents’ home country, to find out whatever possessed his father to become a spy. He returns home cleansed, to find that his father has died. He is warmly welcomed by his father’s new widow. He follows his father’s last wish, establishing an Institute for the Soul, and becomes himself an authenticity healer. Many years and kilos later he decides finally to lead his own life. Continued...

My Mother’s Voice

(De stem van mijn moeder, 2009)

In De stem van mijn moeder (My Mother’s Voice) Abdelkader Benali returns to his roots and his discovery of literature when twenty-years old. Literature was to shape his life. As in Bruiloft aan zee (Wedding by the Sea), the cheerful, quirky debut written in 1995 which was successful all over Europe, his new novel – written in an exuberant mix of styles and influences – tells a story which reaches a resounding climax. Continued...