A political scientist, Islamic studies scholar, and associate researcher at the Paul Ricoeur Fund (philosophy – hermeneutics), French-Moroccan teacher Rachid Benzine was recently appointed to France’s National Consultative Ethics Committee for Life Sciences and Health.
He published his first essay, Nous avons tant de choses à nous dire (Albin Michel, 1998), co-written with Father Christian Delorme, a key figure in Muslim-Catholic dialogue in a suburb of Lyon. He later co-authored Des mille et une façons d’être juif ou musulman (Seuil, 2017) with Delphine Horvilleur.
His novel Les silences des pères (Seuil, 2023) explores the generational gap between migrant fathers and their sons.
In L’homme qui lisait des livres (Julliard, 2025), he tells the story of a bookseller in Gaza who believes that books are our greatest hope for survival—not to escape reality, but to fully inhabit it. A powerful act of faith in the transformative power of words.
In French.
