TEHRAN – The Persian translation of the book “Houris,” also known as “Virgins,” written by Kamel Daoud has been released in the bookstores across Iran.

Sanaz Fallahfard has translated the book from French into Persian and Tadaee Publication has brought it out in 397 pages, ISNA reported.

“Houris” focuses on the victims of what Algerians call the “black decade,” when tens of thousands of people were killed as the army fought an Islamist insurgency. The conflict erupted in 1991 after Islamists won a first round of legislative elections, prompting the military-backed government to cancel the second round of voting.
 
Aube is a young Algerian woman who must remember the war of independence, which she did not live through, and forget the civil war of the 1990s, which she herself endured. Her tragedy is marked on her body: a scar on her neck and destroyed vocal cords. Mute, she dreams of regaining her voice. She can only tell her story to the daughter she carries within her. But does she have the right to keep this child? Can one give life when it has been almost torn from you? In a country that has passed laws to punish anyone who speaks of the civil war, Aube decides to return to her native village, where it all began, and where perhaps the dead will answer her. 

Kamel Daoud, 56, is a French-Algerian writer and journalist. He is best known for his 2013 novel “The Meursault Investigation” and his 2024 novel “Houris,” which won the Prix Goncourt that year.

The author said earlier this year that he has been sentenced to three years in prison in Algeria for “Houris,” a recipient of France’s most prestigious literary award. The writer, who lives in France, said that he was also fined 5 million Algerian dinars ($38,000).

Daoud said he was convicted under what is known as the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, a text adopted by referendum in 2005 that offered widespread pardons to both armed Islamists and security forces.

“The text punishes any public mention of the civil war,” Daoud said. “Ten years of war, nearly 200,000 dead according to estimates, thousands of terrorists granted amnesty … and only one guilty party: a writer.”

In addition to the legal action brought by the court in the Algerian city of Oran, Daoud is the target of two international arrest warrants issued by Algeria in May 2025 and is also under threat of being stripped of his Algerian nationality.

SS/