Abdelkader Benali was born in The Netherlands in 1975, of Moroccan origins. Benali published his first novel
Bruiloft aan zee ('Wedding by the Sea') in 1996, which received the Geertjan Lubberhuizen Prize. For his second novel,
De langverwachte ('The Long-Awaited', 2002), Benali was awarded the Libris Literature Prize. He has since published the novels
Laat het morgen mooi weer zijn ('Let Tomorrow Be Fine', 2005) and
Feldman en ik ('Feldman and I', 2006). He also writes plays and occasionally works in the field of journalism. In 2005, together with the historian Herman Obdeijn, he published
Marokko door Nederlandse ogen 1605-2005 ('Morocco Through Dutch Eyes 1605-2005').