Amara Lakhous (born Algiers, 1970) is an Italian author, journalist and anthropologist of Algerian origin. He currently lives in New York City.
Early life.
Lakhous was born in 1970 in Algiers, Algeria, in a Berber family with nine siblings. He graduated with a degree in philosophy from the University of Algiers. He also obtained a degree in cultural anthropology from the La Sapienza University in Rome with a thesis on the second generation of Muslim Arab immigrants in Italy.
Career.
Lakhous wrote his first book, titled "The Bedbugs and the Pirates", in 1993. It was written in the Algerian dialect of Arabic and published in a bilingual Arabic-Italian text in 1999. In 1994, Lakhous began work as a reporter for the Algerian national radio. Shortly thereafter, he left for Italy following death threats from Islamists. From 1995, he worked in Italy as a cultural mediator, interpreter, and translator in the field of immigration. In 2001, he wrote another Arabic-language novel based on his early years in Rome, titled "How to be Suckled by the Wolf Without Getting Bit". He then rewrote the novel in Italian, publishing it as "Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio" in 2006, which received critical and popular acclaim. The book has been translated into Dutch, English, and French and was made into a film in 2008.
Between 2003 and 2006, he was a journalist with the Adnkronos International news agency, based in Rome. Lakhous is an editor of a new imprint, Shark/Gharb, that publishes Arabic translations of contemporary European works.
He moved to New York City in 2014 and is currently a visiting professor at New York University.
Honours.
In 2006, Lakhous won the Flaiano prize as well as the Racalmere-Leonardo Sciascia prize for "Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio". He obtained the Prix des Libraires Algériens in 2008. His 2019 novel "The Night Bird" was longlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2021. 
References.
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