Xavier Le Clerc – författare

Mohand-Said Ait-Taleb is an enigma. Living in France but ravaged by memories of the war in Algeria, he has withdrawn into his own world, away from his wife and children. When his son Xavier discovers articles by Albert Camus describing the appalling conditions his father grew up in, he starts to piece together the story of his life.Xavier retraces the steps of this dignified, illiterate and strong-willed man: from Kabylia - where starving children, like Mohand-Said, fought with dogs for scraps - to the metal factory in Normandy, where his father would spend the rest of his days, consumed with providing for his family. It is there that Xavier discovers his love of books. When he breaks with conservative family traditions and confesses his attraction to men, Xavier will find which doors slam closed and which will open.A Man With No Title is a beautiful and moving tribute to a father, to the immigrants condemned to undertake the hardest work for meagre reward, and to the power of literature to transcend class.

The Skull is a reflection on the author's French/Algerian heritage and the legacy of colonialism, with particular reference to the remains to be found in the Musée de l’Homme in Paris which are those of the thousands of Algerians slaughtered by French forces in Algeria in the 19th century. As a noted writer, Le Clerc is given access to the vaults of the Musée de l’Homme, and picks out the severed skull of a small girl he imagines is ‘Zohra’. His address to Zohra’s skull includes accounts of his own life and experience as an Algerian immigrant, as well as of the violent history of the country and its conquest by the French. The unflinching tone he uses to describe the barbarity of the invading forces contrasts with the lyricism of his recollection of the beauty of his country and its people.