Algerian police halted a book signing in Algiers, silencing a gathering meant to explore history through the lens of identity.
Authorities seized copies of sociologist Fatma Oussedik’s latest work and ordered the closure of the Beaux-Arts bookstore for one month.
The publisher, Koukou Editions, condemned the move on Sunday, describing it as both incomprehensible and unlawful under Algerian law.
The book, titled “Rebellious Identities: Rethinking One’s Own History,” reflects years of research into the M’zab Valley’s social fabric.
Publisher director Arezki Ait-Larbi said officials had already demanded the event’s cancellation during a visit days before the planned signing.
Police, accompanied by tax officials and culture ministry representatives, returned again on Saturday, prompting the bookstore to postpone the event.
Later that day, authorities came back, confiscating the books and enforcing a shutdown that will keep the store closed for weeks.
Ait-Larbi questioned the motives behind the operation, arguing that those enforcing the law had instead chosen to sidestep it.
He pointed to Article 54 of Algeria’s Constitution, which states publishing activities can only be restricted by a court ruling.
The incident adds to a pattern of tension between authorities and Koukou Editions, which has faced repeated censorship in recent years.
In 2022, the publisher said a dozen of its titles were barred from Algeria’s main book fair, largely due to political themes.
In 2024, Ait-Larbi and others were briefly detained during a police raid on a literary event in Bejaia.
That event featured a memoir by French author Dominique Martre about women’s lives in Kabylia, a region shaped by Amazigh heritage.
