Mustapha Benfodil was born in 1968 in Relizane, in western Algeria. He is a novelist and playwright, and works as a reporter at the Algerian daily newspaper El Watan. His books include Zarta  (Editions Barzakh, 2000), Les Bavardages du Seul (Barzakh, 2003; prize for the best novel at the first Algerian Festival of the Novel, 2004), and Archéologie du chaos [amoureux] (Barzakh, 2007; published in France by Al Dante, 2012). He is also the author of five plays, including Clandestinopolis (2005; staged at the Avant-scène théâtre, Paris, 2008); De mon hublot utérin je te salue humanité et te dis blablabla (2009); Les Borgnes (2011); and End/Igné, his most recent piece. He published his reporting on the war in Iraq in Les Six derniers jours de Baghdad. Journal d’un voyage de guerre (Editions Casbah, 2003).