Abdelkader Benali

Abdelkader Benali (1975) was born in Morocco and grew up in Rotterdam. He made his debut at the age of 21 with the novel Bruiloft aan zee (De Arbeiderspers, 1996), for which he was awarded the Geertjan Lubberhuizen Prize. His second novel, published six years later under the eloquent title De langverwachte (Vassallucci, 2002), was awarded the Libris Literature Prize. In addition to novels, Benali also writes theater, journalistic work, and together with his wife he made the cookbook Casa Benali (De Arbeiderspers, 2019). In 2020 Benali was awarded De Gouden Ganzenveer because, as ambassador of the Dutch language, he “manages to reach young people with his enthusiastic commitment,” according to the jury.