French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal looks on before receiving the City of Strasbourg Medal, in Strasbourg, eastern France, on January 26, 2026. ROMEO BOETZLE / AFP
Nearly three months after his release from an Algerian prison, French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal was on Thursday, January 29 elected to become a lifetime member of the Académie Française, the intellectual guardians of the French language.
Founded in 1635, the academy is tasked with maintaining the language's purity and publishes an official dictionary. Its members are known as "immortals." The 81-year-old beat five other candidates in a vote for a seat on the body replacing the late lawyer and writer Jean-Denis Bredin, the institution said.
Sansal spent almost a year imprisoned in Algeria over comments about the country but was pardoned by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on November 12.
Subscribers only
