Moussa Ould Ebnou was born in Boutilimit, Mauritania, in 1956. He earned his PhD at the Sorbonne in Paris and is a philosophy professor at the University of Nouakchott in Mauritania. His first novel, L’amour Impossible, was published in Paris in 1990 and his second, Barzakh, in 1993.
He began his professional career in 1984 as a consultant for the United Nations Sudano-Sahelian Office (UNSO) based in New York. He also served as an advisor for more than fifteen years to the Presidency of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, and has directed several state companies.