Rabah Belamri

Rabah Belamri was born in Bougaa (formerly Saint-Arnaud region of Sétif) and lost his eyesight in adolescence at age sixteen following an untreated eye infection. Refusing despair, he mastered Braille, graduated with a master's in literature from the University of Algiers, and completed his doctorate at the Sorbonne.

Belamri transformed his blindness into extraordinary poetic insight, publishing the acclaimed autobiographical novel 'Regard blessé' (Wounded Sight, 1987). He was also an eminent folklorist, collecting, translating, and preserving hundreds of traditional Algerian folk tales and oral legends from the high plateaus.