Jeanne Benameur was born in Algeria to Italian and Tunisian-Algerian parents in 1952. The family fled the country right before the official declaration of the Algerian War of Independence, andmoved to La Rochelle, in France, where Jeanne grew up. After her first poetry collection, Naissance de l'oubli (1987), came several novels for young adults, inspired by her experience as a teacher in Paris inner city secondary schools. In 2002, she received the UNICEF Prize for her novella Les Demeurees, which would be loosely adapted for ARTE television twenty years later. A bestselling and prolific writer of fiction and non-fiction, she has won multiple national and regional readers' awards. Her work is frequently adapted for the stage and music performances and has been translated into several European languages.

Praise for a grammar of the world:'In Jeanne Benameur's language all is fluttering, gentle and stirring. Places are foremost, they precede us, then history settles in and written words unfurl.' -Cecile Coulon, author of A Beast in Paradise 'Jeanne is a thinker: even when she dances, she thinks. She has Atlantic thoughts that also turn towards the Aegean Sea, which is to say that, for her, the backwash of Algerian history flows back into the sea of inner feelings.' - Yasmine Chouaki, Radio France InternationalePraise for The Child Who:'Prose that approximates the condition of poetry.' - Michael Cronin, Irish Times'A short, emotionally charged book.' - Aaron Peck, Times Literary Supplement'Jeanne Benameur writes with uncommon beauty.' - Ronan Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul'Beautifully explores the power and powerlessness of language' - Tash Aw, author of Strangers on a Pier'Mystical. A slow hand walking you into a forest.' - Tice Cin, author of Keeping the House

Jeanne Benameur was born in Algeria to Italian and Tunisian-Algerian parents in 1952. The family fled the country right before the official declaration of the Algerian War of Independence, andmoved to La Rochelle, in France, where Jeanne grew up. After her first poetry collection, Naissance de l'oubli (1987), came several novels for young adults, inspired by her experience as a teacher in Paris inner city secondary schools. In 2002, she received the UNICEF Prize for her novella Les Demeurees, which would be loosely adapted for ARTE television twenty years later. A bestselling and prolific writer of fiction and non-fiction, she has won multiple national and regional readers' awards. Her work is frequently adapted for the stage and music performances and has been translated into several European languages.

Praise for a grammar of the world:'In Jeanne Benameur's language all is fluttering, gentle and stirring. Places are foremost, they precede us, then history settles in and written words unfurl.' -Cecile Coulon, author of A Beast in Paradise 'Jeanne is a thinker: even when she dances, she thinks. She has Atlantic thoughts that also turn towards the Aegean Sea, which is to say that, for her, the backwash of Algerian history flows back into the sea of inner feelings.' - Yasmine Chouaki, Radio France InternationalePraise for The Child Who:'Prose that approximates the condition of poetry.' - Michael Cronin, Irish Times'A short, emotionally charged book.' - Aaron Peck, Times Literary Supplement'Jeanne Benameur writes with uncommon beauty.' - Ronan Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul'Beautifully explores the power and powerlessness of language' - Tash Aw, author of Strangers on a Pier'Mystical. A slow hand walking you into a forest.' - Tice Cin, author of Keeping the House

Jeanne Benameur was born in Algeria to Italian and Tunisian-Algerian parents in 1952. The family fled the country right before the official declaration of the Algerian War of Independence, andmoved to La Rochelle, in France, where Jeanne grew up. After her first poetry collection, Naissance de l'oubli (1987), came several novels for young adults, inspired by her experience as a teacher in Paris inner city secondary schools. In 2002, she received the UNICEF Prize for her novella Les Demeurees, which would be loosely adapted for ARTE television twenty years later. A bestselling and prolific writer of fiction and non-fiction, she has won multiple national and regional readers' awards. Her work is frequently adapted for the stage and music performances and has been translated into several European languages.

Praise for a grammar of the world:'In Jeanne Benameur's language all is fluttering, gentle and stirring. Places are foremost, they precede us, then history settles in and written words unfurl.' -Cecile Coulon, author of A Beast in Paradise 'Jeanne is a thinker: even when she dances, she thinks. She has Atlantic thoughts that also turn towards the Aegean Sea, which is to say that, for her, the backwash of Algerian history flows back into the sea of inner feelings.' - Yasmine Chouaki, Radio France InternationalePraise for The Child Who:'Prose that approximates the condition of poetry.' - Michael Cronin, Irish Times'A short, emotionally charged book.' - Aaron Peck, Times Literary Supplement'Jeanne Benameur writes with uncommon beauty.' - Ronan Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul'Beautifully explores the power and powerlessness of language' - Tash Aw, author of Strangers on a Pier'Mystical. A slow hand walking you into a forest.' - Tice Cin, author of Keeping the House