Amel Mokhtar

Amel Mokhtar (آمال مختار; born February 4, 1964) is a Tunisian journalist and novelist. She has won several prizes, including the COMAR Special Prize in 2006 for her novel Māystrū (Maestro).

Biography
Mokhtar was born in the town of Maktar in the Siliana Governorate, Tunisia. She completed a bachelor's degree in Natural Science at the University of Tunis and began a career in journalism in 1985.

Mokhtar published many short stories in Tunisian newspapers and Arab literary magazines. She published her first novel, Nakhab al-hāyat, in 1993 with Dar al-Adab in Beirut; she was the first Tunisian woman to publish with this prestigious press. She then published a short story collection entitled La taʿshiqī hādha al-rajul and her novel al-Kursī al-hazzāz in 2003. She has won several prizes such as the Tunisian ministry of culture's prize for literary innovation in 1994 and the COMAR Special Prize (for "remarkable originality in a novel" ) for her novel Māystrū in 2006.

Novels

 * (1993) Nakhab al-hāyat (نخب الحياة (Toasts to life))
 * (2003) al-Kursī al-hazzāz (الكرسي الهزاز (The rocking chair))
 * (2007) Māystrū (مايسترو (Maestro))
 * (2013) Dukhan al-qasr (دخان القصر (Smoke of the palace))

Short story collections

 * (2003) La taʿshiqī hādha al-rajul (لا تعشقي هذا الرجل (Don't love this man))
 * (2004) li-al-Mārid wajha jamīl (للمارد وجه جميل (The monster has a pretty face))
 * (2015) Ḥafal al-ʾashbāḥ (حفل الاشباح (Party of ghosts))

Awards and honours

 * (1988) Taher Hedad prize for short stories
 * (1994) Ministry of Culture prize for creative literature (for her novel Toast to Life)
 * (2006) COMAR Special Prize for Tunisian Novel (for Maestro)
 * (2015) CTAM'ART Prize (2nd Place) for Culture and Creativity (for Party of ghosts)