PARIS, France, Jan 9, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - French-Algerian novelist Boualem 
Sansal is a candidate to become a lifelong member of the Academie Francaise, 
two months after his release from an Algerian prison, the institution said 
Thursday.

Known as the guardian of the French language, the French Academy is tasked 
with maintaining the language's purity and publishes an official dictionary.

Sansal is a contender to replace the late lawyer and writer Jean-Denis Bredin 
as a lifelong member known as an "immortal", Le Figaro daily revealed.

The election will take place on January 29, and other candidates include 
Belgian poet Philippe Leuckx.

A first vote for the seat was held on December 11, but no candidate won a 
majority.

In early December, the Academy honoured Sansal at a ceremony where he 
received the international literary award the Cino del Duca World Prize for 
his work.

The writer spent almost a year imprisoned in Algeria over his comments about 
the country but was pardoned by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on 
November 12.

In 2015, he won the Academy's Grand Prix du Roman for his book "2084: The End 
of the World", a dystopian novel inspired by George Orwell's "1984" and set 
in an Islamist totalitarian world in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.