Boualem Sansal receives the City of Strasbourg Medal in eastern France on January 26, 2026. Boualem Sansal, the French-Algerian novelist who was jailed by Algeria in November 2024 amid of a diplomatic crisis between Paris and Algiers, was elected to join the Académie française on Thursday. Known as the guardian of the French language, the Académie is tasked with maintaining the language's purity and publishes an official dictionary. In early December, the Académie honoured Sansal at a ceremony where he received the international literary award the Cino del Duca World Prize for his work. Weeks before his arrest, Sansal told a far-right French media outlet that France had unjustly transferred Moroccan territory to Algeria during the 1830-1962 colonial period.