Boualem Sansal, the French-Algerian novelist who was jailed by Algeria in November 2024 amid of a diplomatic crisis between Paris and Algiers, was elected to join the Académie française on Thursday. Sansal, who was pardoned by Algeria’s president last November after spending a year in jail, joins the 40 lifelong members of the Académie, traditionally known as the “immortels” (immortals). Read moreThe diplomatic gamble that freed French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal The writer was a late contender for the seat left vacant by the late lawyer and writer Jean-Denis Bredin, after no candidate won a majority in an earlier vote in December. Other candidates included Belgian poet Philippe Leuckx. Known as the guardian of the French language, the Académie is tasked with maintaining the language’s purity and publishes an official dictionary. In early December, the Académie honoured Sansal at a ceremony where he received the international literary award the Cino del Duca World Prize for his work. In 2015, he won the Académie’s Grand Prix du Roman for his book “2084: The End of the World”, …