Algerian journalist Kamel Daoud to speak about his novel, ‘The Meursault Investigation’

Kamel Daoud, author of “The Meursault Investigation” and columnist for the Algerian paper Le Quotidien d’Oran, will speak at Yale on Monday, Nov. 9 as a Poynter Fellow in Journalism.

“Meursault et l’arabe : une robinsonnade malheureuse” will take place at 4 p.m. in the auditorium of the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. The event is free and open to the public.

Daoud, a native Algerian, was born in 1970 in the port city of Mostaganem. Daoud has worked as a journalist for many years, and continues to pen a political column for Le Quotidien d’Oran entitled “Raïna raïkoum” (“Our opinion is yours”).

His début novel, “The Meursault Investigation, offers a retelling of Albert Camus’ classic novel “The Stranger,” in which Camus’ main character murders an Arab man on the beach with no provocation. “The Meursault Investigation,” which tells the story from the standpoint of the victim’s brother, Harun, received wide critical acclaim after its 2013 French publication, and garnered multiple awards and honors, including the François-Mauriac Prize in 2014 and France’s Goncourt Prize for a First Novel in 2015. Currently, translations of the novel are underway in more than 25 languages.

The Poynter Fellowship in Journalism was established by Nelson Poynter, who received his master’s degree in 1927 from Yale. The fellowship brings to campus journalists from a wide variety of media outlets who have made significant contributions to their field. Among recent Poynter fellows are Chloe Angyal, Louise Story, and Maxim Eristavi.