Amin Maalouf (; ; born 1949) is a Lebanese French"Amin Maalouf" , Modern Arab writers. author who has lived in France since 1976."About the author", with Amin Maalouf. His native language is Arabic, and he writes in French. His works have been translated into more than 40 languages.

Of his several works of nonfiction, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, is probably the best known. He received the Prix Goncourt in 1993 for his novel The Rock of Tanios, as well as the 2010 Prince of Asturias Award for Literature. He is a member of the Académie française"Amin MAALOUF." Académie Française. and was elected its Perpetual Secretary on 28 September 2023.

Biography Maalouf was born in Beirut, Lebanon to Lebanese Christian parents, his both parents are originally from the Lebanese mountain village Ain el Kabou. He grew up in the Badaro cosmopolitan neighbourhood.Battah, Habib. 11 November 2012. "Amin Maalouf: a writer’s bedroom." Beirut Report. He studied sociology and economics at the Saint Joseph University of Beirut.

He is the uncle of trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf.

Career

Maalouf worked as the director of An-Nahar, a Beirut-based daily newspaper, until the start of the Lebanese civil war in 1975, when he moved to Paris, where he first became a journalist for an economic newspaper. Maalouf's first book, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes (1983), examines the period based on contemporaneous Arabic sources.

Along with his nonfiction work, he has written four texts for musical compositions and numerous novels.

His book Un fauteuil sur la Seine briefly recounts the lives of those who preceded him in seat #29 as a member of the Académie française.Un fauteuil sur la Seine : Quatre siècles d'histoire de France, Grasset, 2016 ()

Awards Maalouf has been awarded honorary doctorates by the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium), the American University of Beirut (Lebanon), the Rovira i Virgili University (Spain), the University of Évora (Portugal), and the University of Ottawa (Canada).

In 1993, Maalouf was awarded the Prix Goncourt for his novel The Rock of Tanios (French: Le rocher de Tanios), set in 19th-century Lebanon.Dia, Hamidou (1995). "Amin Maalouf, écrivain libanais, Prix Goncourt 1993." Nuit Blanche (59):76–80.Reuters (9 November 1993). "Amin Maalouf wins top French book award." Toronto Star.Coppermann, Annie (9 November 1993). "Amin Maalouf, lauréat attendu du prix Goncourt" (in French). Les Echos. In 2004, the original, French edition of his Origins: A Memoir (Origines, 2004) won the Prix Méditerranée.

In 2010, he received the Spanish Prince of Asturias Award for Literature for his work, an intense mix of suggestive language, historic affairs in a Mediterranean mosaic of languages, cultures and religions and stories of tolerance and reconciliation. He was elected a member of the Académie française on 23 June 2011 to fill seat 29, left vacant by the death of anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss. Maalouf is the first person of Lebanese heritage to receive that honour."Lebanese novelist Amin Maalouf joins elite French Academy", The Daily Star, 15 June 2012.

In 2016, he won the Sheikh Zayed Book Award for "Cultural Personality of the Year", the premier category with a prize of 1 million dirhams (approx. US$272,000). In the same year, the University of Venice Ca' Foscari awarded him the Bauer-Incroci di civiltà prize for fostering cultural dialogue between civilizations.

In 2020, he was awarded the National Order of Merit by the French government. He was given the honour by President Emmanuel Macron.

In 2021, Maalouf was elected a Royal Society of Literature International Writer.

In 2025, Maalouf received the FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages during the Guadalajara International Book Fair.

Honours and decorations Ribbon bar Country Honour Knight First class of the Order of the Lion of Finland Officier of the Legion of Honour Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Grand Cordon of the National Order of the Cedar Officier of the Order of Cultural Merit (Monaco)

Works

Fiction Maalouf's novels are marked by his experiences of civil war and migration. Their characters are itinerant voyagers between lands, languages, and religions and he prefers to write about "our past". OriginalEnglish translation1986Léon l'Africain1992Leo Africanus, translated by Peter Sluglett. 1988Samarcande1994Samarkand, trans. Russell Harris. .1991Les jardins de lumière1996The Gardens of Light, trans. Dorothy S. Blair. .1992Le Premier siècle après Béatrice1993The First Century after Beatrice, trans. Dorothy S. Blair. .1993Le Rocher de Tanios1994The Rock of Tanios, trans. Dorothy S. Blair .1996Les Échelles du Levant1996Ports of Call, trans. Alberto Manguel. .2000Le Périple de Baldassare2002Balthasar's Odyssey, trans. Barbara Bray. .2012Les Désorientés2020The Disoriented, trans. Frank Wynne. .2020Nos frères inattendus2023On the Isle of Antioch, trans. Natasha Lehrer. .

Non-fiction OriginalEnglish translation1983Les Croisades vues par les Arabes1986The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. 1998Les Identités meurtrières2000In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong, translated by Barbara Bray. .Maalouf, Amin. 1998. "Deadly Identities," translated by B. Caland. Al Jadid 4(25).2004Origines2008.Origins: A Memoir, translated by Catherine Temerson. .Maalouf, Amin. 2008. Origins: A Memoir, translated by C. Temerson. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. . Preview via Google Books.2009Le Dérèglement du monde2011Disordered World: Setting a New Course for the Twenty-First Century, translated by George Miller. 2019Le Naufrage des civilisations2020Adrift: How Our World Lost Its Way, translated by Frank Wynne. 2023Le Labyrinthe des égarés. L’Occident et ses adversaires -

Librettos All Maalouf's librettos have been written for the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. 2000. L'Amour de loin ('Love from Afar'), opera 2003. Adriana Mater, opera 2006. La Passion de Simone, oratorio 2010. Émilie, monodrama

References

External links Amin Maalouf blog