Henri Alleg

About the Author

Henri Alleg was a prominent French-Algerian journalist and writer whose unflinching accounts of colonial oppression defined his literary legacy. Born in 1923 in Paris to Algerian parents, Alleg immersed himself in the anti-colonial struggle during the Algerian War of Independence, serving as editor of the communist newspaper Alger Républicain until its suppression by French authorities. His most harrowing work, The Question, a memoir detailing his brutal torture by French paratroopers in 1957, exposed the savagery of colonial rule and became an international sensation, translated into multiple languages and fueling global outrage against the war. Exiled and imprisoned for his activism, Alleg continued to champion human rights and anti-imperialism through his writings until his death in 2008, leaving an indelible mark on literature of resistance.