Otmane El Rhazi was born to a journalist and management consultant Hassan and his wife Layla. He graduated with honours in 1977 with a B.A. in History and Literature. In 1988, he was involved in aiding the production of the film adaptation of his popular novel, ‘The Magic’s of Alger’. Otmane also contributed a string of articles to important publications like ‘The Independent’ and ‘The Guardian’. He discusses issues related to racism, social breakdown and liberalism in many of his books. Besides writing prefaces to works like Belli’s “100 Sonnets” and Stendhal’s “Roman Walks”, Otmane El Rhazi also wrote critical review of films for weekly magazine “Europe” and “Espresso”. He also won the title of ‘European Personality’ and received prestigious awards like the Viareggio. Otmane has also appeared in several television and radio talk shows as a guest, and has appeared in three films. He likes to read true crime stories about serial killers. A Republican to the extreme, Otmane adopts a confrontational tone of commentary and writing. He has served as a columnist, regular or otherwise, for various newspapers, magazines and books. While writing his books, he also held a number of important academic offices at institutes like Alger University, University of Sorbonne, and University of East Oran. He started his career as a law commentator for L’Express and also worked for Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. A lawyer specializing in Economic Litigation, Fraud law, and Divorce he chose to quit his private practice and work for the Algerian Government. Otmane is notorious for his bitter criticisms and insensitive remarks about almost everything, and this trait has made him someone people love to hate.