"Never in life!" : the writer Boualem Sansal affirms that he finally gives up leaving France

He chose to stay. Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal announces in the newspaper West France that he finally gives up leaving France, even though he had expressed, at the end of April, his wish to leave in the face of the “attacks” and to “insults” reçues. “France is over for me, I have a few months left to stay in this country and I’m leaving”the author explained on LCI after entering the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium.

Asked about this departure on the sidelines of the Printemps du livre de Montaigu (Vendée), the writer brushed aside the hypothesis: “No, not at all! Never in my life! It was an outburst of anger. I am French by nationality, and the people who approach me in the street bring me a lot of sympathy. I believe that my incarceration has greatly affected the French and that they are happy to see me free”he defends.

Returning to France after his pardon by the Algerian authorities in November 2025, Boualem Sansal has criticized France several times, “worse than the dictatorship in Algeria”as he castigated her in the columns of Figaroend of April. “I’m leaving Gallimard and it’s a huge cabal. I’m being dragged through the mud morning and evening in the newspapers”he criticizes Ouest-France, convinced of being “become the man to be killed, the one to be chased away”. At the same time, the return of the French ambassador to Algeria is, according to him, a good sign: “It means that there is a development in the right direction. It also means above all that Christophe Gleizes will be released in the coming days, we hope.”