View source for Amin Maalouf

{{short description|Lebanese-born French author (born 1949)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Amin Maalouf
| image = Amin_Maalouf_05.jpg
| caption = Maalouf, 16 February 2016
| birth_date = 1949
| birth_place = [[Beirut]], Lebanon
| occupation = Writer, scholar and novelist, Perpetual Secretary of the Académie Française (elected 28 September 2023)
| language = French
| notableworks = ''[[Leo Africanus (novel)|Leo Africanus]]'', ''[[The Rock of Tanios]]'', ''[[The Crusades Through Arab Eyes]]'', ''[[Samarkand (novel)|Samarkand]]''
| website = 
}}

'''Amin Maalouf''' ({{IPA|fr|maluf|lang}}; {{langx|ar|أمين رشدي بطرس طنّوص معلوف}} {{IPA|ar|maʕˈluːf}}; born 1949) is a [[Lebanese people in France|Lebanese-born French]]<ref name=ModernArabWriters>[http://www.al-bab.com/arab/literature/maalouf.htm "Amin Maalouf"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227194414/http://www.al-bab.com/arab/literature/maalouf.htm |date=27 December 2012 }}, Modern Arab writers.</ref> author who has lived in France since 1976.<ref name=About>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091009231621/http://www.aminmaalouf.net/en/about/ "About the author"], with Amin Maalouf.</ref> Although his native language is [[Arabic]], he writes in French, and his works have been translated into over 40 languages. 

Of his several works of nonfiction, ''[[The Crusades Through Arab Eyes]]'' is probably the best known.<ref name="ModernArabWriters" /> He received the [[Prix Goncourt]] in 1993 for his novel ''[[The Rock of Tanios]]'', as well as the 2010 [[Princess of Asturias Awards|Prince of Asturias Award]] for Literature. He is a member of the [[Académie française]]<ref name="DailyStar" /><ref name=":0">"[http://www.academie-francaise.fr/les-immortels/amin-maalouf Amin MAALOUF]." ''[[Académie Française]]''.</ref> and was elected its [[:fr:Secrétaire perpétuel de l'Académie française|Perpetual Secretary]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-28 |title=Amin Maalouf élu secrétaire perpétuel de l'Académie française |url=https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1350809/amin-maalouf-elu-secretaire-perpetuel-de-lacademie-francaise.html |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=L'Orient-Le Jour}}</ref> on 28 September 2023.

==Background==
Maalouf was born in [[Beirut]], Lebanon, and grew up in the [[Badaro]] cosmopolitan neighbourhood,<ref>Battah, Habib. 11 November 2012. "[http://www.beirutreport.com/2012/11/amin-maalouf-writers-bedroom.html Amin Maalouf: a writer’s bedroom]." ''Beirut Report''.</ref> the second of four children. His mother, of Turkish ancestry, was from Egypt, and his father was a [[Lebanese Melkite Christians|Melkite Catholic]]<ref name="Esposito">{{citation|last=Esposito|first=Claudia|title=The Narrative Mediterranean: Beyond France and the Maghreb|page=36|year=2013|chapter=Of Chronological Others and Alternative Histories: Amin Maalouf and Fawzi Mellah|publisher=[[Lexington Books]]|isbn=978-0739168226|quote=born into a culturally composite family - his mother was Egyptian of Turkish origin, his father a Greek Catholic in 1949 in Lebanon...}}</ref> from the village of Machrah.<ref>{{cite news|author=Jean-Claude Raspiengeas|url=https://www.la-croix.com/Culture/Amin-Maalouf-Levantin-desoriente-2019-04-20-1201016941|title=Amin Maalouf, un Levantin désorienté|language=fr|work=[[La Croix (newspaper)|La Croix]]|date=20 April 2019}}</ref> He studied sociology and economics at the [[Saint Joseph University of Beirut]].

He is the uncle of trumpeter [[Ibrahim Maalouf]].<ref>{{cite news|author1=Olivier Nuc|author2=Valérie Sasportas|date=3 March 2017|title=Qui est Ibrahim Maalouf trompettiste dans la tourmente?|newspaper=Le Figaro|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/musique/2017/03/03/03006-20170303ARTFIG00228-qui-est-ibrahim-maalouf-trompettiste-dans-la-tourmente.php}}</ref>

===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.<ref name="DailyStar" />

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 [[List of members of the Académie française#Seat 29|seat #29]] as a member of the [[Académie française]].<ref>Un fauteuil sur la Seine : Quatre siècles d'histoire de France, Grasset, 2016 ({{ISBN|978-2-246-86167-6}})</ref><ref name=":0" />

==Awards==
Maalouf has been awarded [[Honorary Doctorates|honorary doctorates]] by the [[Université catholique de Louvain|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).<ref name="About" />

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.<ref>[[Hamidou Dia|Dia, Hamidou]] (1995). "[https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/nb/1995-n59-nb1117160/19670ac.pdf Amin Maalouf, écrivain libanais, Prix Goncourt 1993]." ''Nuit Blanche'' (59):76–80.</ref><ref>Reuters (9 November 1993). "[http://vp9py7xf3h.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/ProQ%3Anewsstand&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Toronto+Star&rft.atitle=Amin+Maalouf+wins+top+French+book+award%3A+%5BAM+Edition%5D&rft.au=Reuter&rft.aulast=Reuter&rft.aufirst=&rft.date=1993-11-09&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=B.10&rft.isbn=&rft.btitle=&rft.title=Toronto+Star&rft.issn=03190781 Amin Maalouf wins top French book award]." {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216094154/http://vp9py7xf3h.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2FProQ%3Anewsstand&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Toronto+Star&rft.atitle=Amin+Maalouf+wins+top+French+book+award%3A+%5BAM+Edition%5D&rft.au=Reuter&rft.aulast=Reuter&rft.aufirst=&rft.date=1993-11-09&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=B.10&rft.isbn=&rft.btitle=&rft.title=Toronto+Star&rft.issn=03190781 |date=16 December 2017 }} ''Toronto Star''.</ref><ref>Coppermann, Annie (9 November 1993). [http://www.lesechos.fr/09/11/1993/LesEchos/16514-093-ECH_amin-maalouf--laureat-attendu-du-prix-goncourt.htm "Amin Maalouf, lauréat attendu du prix Goncourt"] (in French). ''[[Les Echos (France)|Les Echos]]''.</ref> In 2004, the original, French edition of his ''Origins: A Memoir'' (''Origines'', 2004) won the [[Prix Méditerranée]].<ref name="Prix Awards">{{cite web|title=Prix Méditerranée|url=http://www.prix-litteraires.net/prix/39,prix-mediterranee.html|website=Prix|access-date=15 January 2017|archive-date=15 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415105614/http://www.prix-litteraires.net/prix/39,prix-mediterranee.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2010 he received the Spanish [[Princess of Asturias Awards|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 [[List of members of the Académie française#Seat 29|29]], left vacant by the death of anthropologist [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news|work=Le Monde| date= 14 June 2012 | access-date = 10 October 2015 | title= Amin Maalouf entre à l'Académie française | url= http://mobile.lemonde.fr/livres/article/2012/06/14/amin-maalouf-entre-a-l-academie-francaise_1718861_3260.html }}</ref> Maalouf is the first person of Lebanese heritage to receive that honour.<ref name=DailyStar>[http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Books/2012/Jun-14/176879-france-gives-top-honour-to-franco-lebanese-writer-maalouf.ashx#axzz29IJccobp "Lebanese novelist Amin Maalouf joins elite French Academy"], ''The Daily Star'', 15 June 2012.</ref>

In 2016, he won the [[Sheikh Zayed Book Award]] for "Cultural Personality of the Year", the premier category with a prize of 1 million [[Dirham|dirhams]] (approx. [[United States dollar|US$]]272,000).<ref name="cultural personality 2016">{{cite news|last1=Ghazal|first1=Rym|title=Cultural Personality of the Year Award winner Amin Maalouf: 'I prefer to write about our past'|url=http://www.thenational.ae/arts-life/abu-dhabi-international-book-fair/cultural-personality-of-the-year-award-winner-amin-maalouf-i-prefer-to-write-about-our-past|agency=The National|date=2 May 2016}}</ref> In the same year, the University of Venice Ca' Foscari awarded him the Bauer-''[[:it:Incroci_di_civiltà#2022|Incroci di civiltà]]'' prize for fostering cultural dialogue between civilizations.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-03-26 |title=Incroci di civiltà, torna il festival di letteratura |url=https://www.ilgazzettino.it/pay/venezia_pay/incroci_di_civilt_224_torna_il_festival_di_letteratura-1633212.html |access-date=2024-02-13 |website=www.ilgazzettino.it |language=it}}</ref> 

In 2020, he was awarded the [[Ordre national du Mérite|National Order of Merit]] by the French government. He was given the honour by President [[Emmanuel Macron]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/lebanese-author-amin-maalouf-awarded-national-order-of-merit-in-france-1.986409|title=Lebanese author Amin Maalouf awarded National Order of Merit in France|first=Nyree|last=McFarlane|website=The National|date=March 2020 |language=en|access-date=2020-03-02}}</ref>

In 2021, Maalouf was elected a [[Royal Society of Literature]] International Writer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rsliterature.org/inaugural-rsl-international-writers-announced/|title=Inaugural RSL International Writers Announced|website=Royal Society of Literature|date=30 November 2021|access-date=3 December 2023}}</ref>

In 2025 Maalouf received the [[FIL Award|FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages]] during the [[Guadalajara International Book Fair]].<ref>{{cite web | last=Partida | first=Juan Carlos G. | title=Amin Maalouf gana el Premio FIL de Literatura en Lenguas Romances | trans-title=Amin Maalouf wins the FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages | website=La Jornada | date=2025-09-01 | url=https://www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2025/09/01/cultura/amin-maalouf-gana-el-premio-fil-de-literatura-en-lenguas-romance | language=es | access-date=2025-09-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Maldonado | first=Carlos S. | title=Amin Maalouf gana el Premio de Literatura en Lenguas Romances con un alegato contra los extremismos: 'La humanidad superará este periodo aterrador' | trans-title=Amin Maalouf wins the Prize for Literature in Romance Languages with a plea against extremism: 'Humanity will overcome this terrifying period' | website=El País México | date=2025-09-01 | url=https://elpais.com/mexico/2025-09-01/amin-maalouf-premio-de-literatura-en-lenguas-romances-la-humanidad-superara-este-periodo-aterrador.html | language=es | access-date=2025-09-04}}</ref>

==Honours and decorations==
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
|-
! style="width:80px;"| Ribbon bar !! Country !! Honour 
|-
| [[File:FIN Order of the Lion of Finland 4Class BAR.png|70px]] || {{Flag|Finland}} || Knight First class of the [[Order of the Lion of Finland]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academie-francaise.fr/les-immortels/amin-maalouf#:~:text=Il%20obtint%20en%202021%2C%20le,perp%C3%A9tuel%20le%2028%20septembre%202023.|title=Amin MAALOUF}}</ref>
|-
| [[File:Legion Honneur Officier ribbon.svg|70px]] || {{Flag|France}} || Officier of the [[Legion of Honour]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academie-francaise.fr/les-immortels/amin-maalouf#:~:text=Il%20obtint%20en%202021%2C%20le,perp%C3%A9tuel%20le%2028%20septembre%202023.|title=Amin MAALOUF}}</ref>
|-
| [[File:Ordre national du Merite GO ribbon.svg|Ordre national du Merite GO ribbon|70px]] || {{Flag|France}} || Grand Officer of the [[National Order of Merit (France)|National Order of Merit]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academie-francaise.fr/les-immortels/amin-maalouf#:~:text=Il%20obtint%20en%202021%2C%20le,perp%C3%A9tuel%20le%2028%20septembre%202023.|title=Amin MAALOUF}}</ref>
|-
| [[File:Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Commandeur ribbon.svg|70px]] || {{Flag|France}} || Commander of the [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academie-francaise.fr/les-immortels/amin-maalouf#:~:text=Il%20obtint%20en%202021%2C%20le,perp%C3%A9tuel%20le%2028%20septembre%202023.|title=Amin MAALOUF}}</ref>
|-
| | [[File:LBN National Order of the Cedar - Grand Cordon BAR.png|70px]] || {{Flag|Lebanon}} || Grand Cordon of the [[National Order of the Cedar]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academie-francaise.fr/les-immortels/amin-maalouf#:~:text=Il%20obtint%20en%202021%2C%20le,perp%C3%A9tuel%20le%2028%20septembre%202023.|title=Amin MAALOUF}}</ref>
|-
| [[File:MON Ordre du Merite Culturel Officier BAR.svg|70px]] || {{Flag|Monaco}} || Officier of the [[Order of Cultural Merit (Monaco)]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academie-francaise.fr/les-immortels/amin-maalouf#:~:text=Il%20obtint%20en%202021%2C%20le,perp%C3%A9tuel%20le%2028%20septembre%202023.|title=Amin MAALOUF}}</ref>
|}

==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".
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" |Original
! colspan="2" |English translation
|-
|1986
|''Léon l'Africain''
|1992
|''[[Leo Africanus (novel)|Leo Africanus]]'', translated by Peter Sluglett. {{ISBN|1-56131-022-0}}
|-
|1988
|''Samarcande''
|1994
|''[[Samarkand (novel)|Samarkand]]'', trans. Russell Harris. {{ISBN|1-56656-293-7}}.
|-
|1991
|''Les jardins de lumière''
|1996
|''[[The Gardens of Light]]'', trans. [[Dorothy S. Blair]]. {{ISBN|1-56656-248-1}}.
|-
|1992
|''Le Premier siècle après Béatrice''
|1993
|''[[The First Century after Beatrice]]'', trans. Dorothy S. Blair. {{ISBN|0-7043-7051-4}}.
|-
|1993
|''Le Rocher de Tanios''<ref>{{cite web|title=Le palmarès|url=https://www.academiegoncourt.com/?article=4294967295|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091106031016/http://www.academie-goncourt.fr/?article=4294967295|archive-date=6 November 2009|access-date=27 November 2009|publisher=Académie Goncourt|language=fr}}</ref>
|1994
|''[[The Rock of Tanios]]'', trans. Dorothy S. Blair {{ISBN|0-8076-1365-7}}.
|-
|1996
|''Les Échelles du Levant''
|1996
|''[[Ports of Call (Maalouf novel)|Ports of Call]]'', trans. Alberto Manguel. {{ISBN|1-86046-890-X}}.
|-
|2000
|''Le Périple de Baldassare''
|2002
|''[[Balthasar's Odyssey]]'', trans. Barbara Bray. {{ISBN|1-55970-702-X}}.
|-
|2012
|''[[:fr:Les_Désorientés|Les Désorientés]]''
|2020
|''The Disoriented'', trans. [[Frank Wynne]]. {{ISBN|978-1-64286-058-0}}.
|-
|2020
|''Nos frères inattendus''
|2023
|''[[On the Isle of Antioch]]'', trans. [[Natasha Lehrer]]. {{ISBN|978-1-64286-134-1}}.
|}

=== Non-fiction ===
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" |Original
! colspan="2" |English translation
|-
|1983
|''Les Croisades vues par les Arabes''
|1986
|''[[The Crusades Through Arab Eyes]]''. {{ISBN|0-8052-0898-4}}
|-
|1998
|''Les Identités meurtrières''
|2000
|''[[In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong]]'', translated by [[Barbara Bray]]. {{ISBN|0-14-200257-7}}.<ref>Maalouf, Amin. [1998] 1998. "[https://www.aljadid.com/content/deadly-identities Deadly Identities]," translated by B. Caland. ''Al Jadid'' 4(25).</ref>
|-
|2004
|''Origines''
|2008.
|''Origins: A Memoir'', translated by Catherine Temerson. {{ISBN|978-0-374-22732-6}}.<ref>Maalouf, Amin. [2004] 2008. ''Origins: A Memoir'', translated by C. Temerson. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. {{ISBN|978-0-374-22732-6}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=VRcLg4e0pYEC Preview via Google Books].</ref>
|-
|2009
|''Le Dérèglement du monde''
|2011
|''Disordered World: Setting a New Course for the Twenty-First Century'', translated by George Miller. {{ISBN|978-1-60819-584-8}}
|-
|2019
|''Le Naufrage des civilisations''
|2020
|''[[Adrift: How Our World Lost Its Way]]'', translated by Frank Wynne. {{ISBN|978-1-64286-075-7}}

|-
|2023
|''Le Labyrinthe des égarés. L’Occident et ses adversaires''
| -
|{{ISBN|9782246830436}}
|}

===Librettos===
All Maalouf's [[libretto]]s 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 (opera)|Émilie]]'', [[monodrama]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120123160937/http://www.aminmaalouf.net/en/ Amin Maalouf blog]
* {{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/nov/16/classicalmusicandopera.fiction|title=Profile: A Son of the Road|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=16 November 2002|author=Jaggi, Maya|author-link=Maya Jaggi|access-date=29 November 2009}}

{{Amin Maalouf}}
{{Académie française Seat 29}}
{{AcademieFrancaiseCurrentMembers}}
{{Prince of Asturias Award for Literature}}
{{Prix Méditerranée winners}}
{{Prix Goncourt}}
{{Portal bar|Lebanon}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maalouf, Amin}}
[[Category:Writers from Beirut]]
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:Exophonic writers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:Prix Goncourt winners]]
[[Category:Prix Maison de la Presse winners]]
[[Category:Lebanese historical novelists]]
[[Category:Lebanese non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:French historical novelists]]
[[Category:French opera librettists]]
[[Category:20th-century Lebanese writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Lebanese writers]]
[[Category:20th-century French novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:French male novelists]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Lebanese male writers]]
[[Category:Collège Notre Dame de Jamhour alumni]]
[[Category:Saint Joseph University alumni]]
[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Knights First Class of the Order of the Lion of Finland]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Cultural Merit (Monaco)]]
[[Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite]]
[[Category:Grand Cordons of the National Order of the Cedar]]
[[Category:Lebanese Melkite Greek Catholics]]
[[Category:French Eastern Catholics]]
[[Category:Lebanese emigrants to France]]
[[Category:Lebanese people of Egyptian descent]]
[[Category:Lebanese people of Turkish descent]]
[[Category:French people of Egyptian descent]]
[[Category:French people of Turkish descent]]
[[Category:Lebanese memoirists]]