Alain Mabanckou is a novelist, journalist, poet, and academic, a French citizen born in the Republic of the Congo, he is currently a Professor of Literature at UCLA. He is best known for his novels and non-fiction writing depicting the experience of contemporary Africa and the African diaspora in France. He is among the best known and most successful writers in the French language, and one of the best known African writers in France. In some circles in Paris he is known as "the Samuel Beckett of Africa".
Alain Robbe-Grillet was a French writer and filmmaker. He was one of the figures most associated with the Nouveau Roman trend of the 1960s, along with Nathalie Sarraute, Michel Butor and Claude Simon. Alain Robbe-Grillet was elected a member of the Académie française on 25 March 2004, succeeding Maurice Rheims at seat No. 32. He was married to Catherine Robbe-Grillet.
Alain Stanké, is a Canadian francophone television and radio host and commentator, writer, editor, producer, interviewer and journalist. Born in Kaunas (Lithuania), he immigrated to Montreal in 1951.
Alain Touraine was a French sociologist. He was research director at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, where he founded the Centre d'étude des mouvements sociaux. Touraine was an important figure in the founding of French sociology of work after World War II and later became an internationally-renowned sociologist of social movements, particularly the May 68 student movement in France and the Solidarity trade-union movement in communist Poland.
Alain-Fournier was the pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier, a French author and soldier. He was the author of a single novel, Le Grand Meaulnes (1913), which has been filmed twice and is considered a classic of French literature. The book is based partly on his childhood.
Alain-René Lesage was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel The Devil upon Two Sticks, his comedy Turcaret (1709), and his picaresque novel Gil Blas (1715–1735).
Ghiyath ibn Ghawth ibn al-Salt ibn Tariqa al-Taghlibi commonly known as al-Akhtal, was one of the most famous Arab poets of the Umayyad period. He belonged to the Banu Taghlib tribe, and was, like his fellow-tribesmen, a Christian.
Alaksandar Ćvikievič was a Belarusian politician, historian, jurist, philosopher, and a victim of Stalin's purges. He served as Prime Minister of Belarus in exile for two years, from 23 August 1923, until October 1925. His interest featured philosophy and history. He worked as a jurist and lawyer. He was also a professor at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
