Taos-Amrouche, Marguerite (Marie-Louise)

(1913-1976)

   She was born in Tunis on 4 March 1913 and died in Saint Michel-L'observatoire in France on 2 April 1976. She received her elementary and secondary education in Tunis. She was a francophone writer as well as a musician. She was the sister of the well-known author Jean Amrouche. Her parents were born in Ighil Ali in Lesser Kabylia and converted to Christianity. Her artistic expressions, both written and sung, speak of themes of exile and identity, underscoring her feelings of separation, loss, and a relentless effort to find peace with herself and to connect with others. She was the first Algerian woman to publish a novel in 1947.

   Writing under the nom de plume of Marguerite-Taos Amrouche, she was the author of three autobiographical novels: Jacinthe noire, which appeared in 1947 and was reedited in 1972; La rue des tambourins, published in 1969; and L'amant imaginaire, which appeared in 1975. A fourth posthumous novel, Solitude ma mère, was published in 1995. Her masterpiece, le grain magique, appeared in 1966 and is a compilation of Kabyle stories and poems collected from her mother, Fadhma At Mansur Amrouche (1882-1967), the author of a posthumous and moving narrative, Histoire de ma vie, published in 1967. Her recordings include Chants berbères de Kabylie (1967), Chants de processions, méditations, et danses sacrées berbères (1967), Chants de l'Atlas (1971), Chants espagnols archaïques de la Alberca (1972), Incantations, méditations et danses berbères sacrées (1974), and Chants berbères de la meule et du berceau (1975).