Known for his novel published in 1983, “Le Thé au harem d’Archi Ahmed”, and for its film adaptation, Mehdi Charef died on June 10, at the age of 73, at his home in the Paris region, announced his family and his publisher, Hors d’reach. Born on October 24, 1952, in Maghnia, Algeria, he grew up in the Paris suburbs and worked in the factory to eventually become a writer, playwright and director whose works deal with precariousness, racism and colonial memory.