Guest Lecturer
- Novelist, critic, broadcaster who produces and presents programmes for radio and television.
- Initiated and founded Beit al-Riwaya (Centre for the Novel) and behind the Beit al‑Khayal (House of Fiction) salon and creative-writing lab.
- Since the 1990s regular contributor to Arab and international cultural media.
- Writes and presents programmes about the novel on Tunisian radio and television: Beit al-Khayal on El Watania 1, and Inhiyaz (Bias) on Radio Tunisie Culture.
- Run a large number of workshops in creative, journalistic, and critical writing in Tunisia and the Arab world.
- Contact: kamel.riahi@utoronto.ca
Education :
- 02-2005: Post Graduate Degree in Arabic Language and Literature - Faculty Of Letters, Arts and Humanities of La Manouba (Tunisia)
- 06-2011: Bachelor’s Degree in Arabic Language and Literature - University of Tunis (Higher Institute of Language)
Work Experiences:
- 2022 - 2023: Guest Lecturer, University of Toronto, Canada
- 2021 - 2022: Writer-in-Residence, Department of English Language and Literature, Carleton University, Canada
- 2010 - 2018: Ministry of Culture, Director of the Cultural Centers (Al Mohamadiah- ibn khaldoun),Tunisia
- 2018 - 2021: Ministry of Culture, Director and founder of the House of the Novel, City of Culture-Tunisia.
- 2017 - 2021: Presenter and Producer of “Inhiyaz” Radio program, Tunis Cultural Radio Station
- 2014 - 2021: Creative writing workshops trainer, House of fiction
- 2000 - 2021: Writer and Literary Critic, Aljazeera-Ultrasawt-rasseef22-TheNewYorkTimes, Doha magazine.
- 2015 - 2016: Presenter and Producer of House of Fiction “bayt al khayal”, TV program, Tunisian National Television/ al Wataniya 1
- 2009 - 2010 : Head of the translation department at the Arab Higher Institute for Translation in Algeria.
- 2005 - 2007: Temporary professor, Higher Institute of Languages in Tunisia.
Literature
- Nawaris al-Dhakira (Seagulls of Memory) – short story collection, 1999.
- Suriqa Wajhi (My Face Was Stolen) – short story collection, 2001.
- Al-Mishrat (The Scalpel) – novel, winner of the Comar d’or prize 2006; 2nd edn, Dar al-Junoub, Tunis, 2007; 3rd edn, Dar al-Saqi, Beirut, 2012.
- Al-Ghorila (Gorilla/One Night in Tunis) – novel, 2011.
- ‘Ashiqat al-Nadhl (The Rouge’s Lovers) – novel, Dar al-Saqi, 2015.
- Wahid-Sifr lil-Qatil (One-Nil to the Dead Man) – diary, Mediterranean Publications, Milan, Italy, 2018.
- Al-Beretta Yaksibu Da’iman (Beretta Always Wins), al-Mutawassit, Milano 2020.
Criticism
- Harakat al-Sard al-Riwa’i (The Movement of Fictional Narrative) – Dar Mijdalawi, Jordan, 2005.
- Al-Kitaba al-Riwa’iya ‘ind Wacini Laraj (The Novels of Wacini Laraj) – Karim Sharif Publications, Tunis, 2009.
- Thus Spoke Philippe Lejeune – Interview in the Hakadha Tahaddatha (Thus Spoke) series, 2010.
- This Spoke Wacini Laraj – Interview in the Hakadha Tahaddatha (Thus Spoke) series, 2010.
- Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid: Al-Tafkir fi Wajh al-Takfir (Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid: Thinking in the face of takfir) – Karim Sharif Publications, Tunis, 2014.
- Fann al-Riwaya (The Art of the Novel) – Algeria Reads, 2018; 2nd edn, Sotumedias, Tunis, 2019.
Complete works and selections have been translated into French, Italian, English, Portuguese, Swedish, Spanish, Polish, Hebrew and Persian.
Awards
- Ibn Battuta Prize for Memoir in 2018 for Wahid-Sifr lil-Qatil.
- Academia Prize for best cultural programme on Tunisian television for House of Fiction, 2015
- Hay Festival Prize for the 39 best Arab writers.
- Comar d’or Prize for best Tunisian novel 2007 for Al-Mishrat.
- Only Tunisian writer to be included in the Beirut 39, 2009.
- Selected as one of the five best writers under forty for the IPAF, 2010.
- Short Story Prize, Cairo, Diwan al-Arab, 2005.