Algerian literature has been influenced by many cultures, including the ancient Romans

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, Arabs, French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 and Spanish

Spanish people

The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....

, as well as the indigenous people. The dominant languages in Algerian

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

 literature are French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 and Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

, but Berber is also represented.

A few of the more notable Algerian writers are Saint Augustine, Kateb Yacine

Kateb Yacine

Kateb Yacine was an Algerian writer notable for his novels and plays, both in French and Algerian Arabic dialect, and his advocacy of the Algerian Berber cause.-Biography:...

, Rachid Mimouni

Rachid Mimouni

Rachid Mimouni was an Algerian writer, teacher and human rights activist....

, Mouloud Mammeri

Mouloud Mammeri

Mouloud Mammeri is an Algerian Kabyle writer, anthropologist and linguist. Born on December 28, 1917 in Taourirt Mimoune Ait Yenni in Tizi Ouzou Province, Algeria; died in February 1989 near Aïn Defla in a car accident while returning from a conference in Oujda, Morocco.- Biography :Mouloud...

, Mouloud Feraoun

Mouloud Feraoun

Mouloud Feraoun was an Algerian writer and martyr of the Algerian revolution born in Tizi Hibel, Kabylia. Some of his books, written in French, have been translated into several languages including English and German...

, Assia Djebar

Assia Djebar

Assia Djebar is the pen-name of Fatima-Zohra Imalayen , an Algerian novelist, translator and filmmaker. Most of her works deal with obstacles faced by women, and she is noted for her feminist stance. Djebar is considered to be one of North Africa's pre-eminent and most influential writers...

 and Mohammed Dib

Mohammed Dib

Mohammed Dib was an Algerian author. He wrote over 30 novels, as well as numerous short stories, poems, and children's literature in the French language. He is probably Algeria's most prolific and well-known writer...

. Albert Camus

Albert Camus

Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...

, a French-Algerian (or pied noir), is undoubtedly the best known writer ever to come from Algeria. A philosopher, novelist and playwright, Camus won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. While most of his stories are set in Algeria and he supported civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

 for the indigenous Algerians, he opposed Algerian independence, which has hurt his reputation in his homeland.

Algerian literature has played a vital role in the culture of North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

, and its influence is felt throughout the world.