Lakhous wrote his first book, titled
The Bedbugs and the Pirates, in 1993. It was written in the
Algerian dialect of Arabic and published in a bilingual Arabic-Italian text in 1999. In 1994, Lakhous began work as a reporter for the Algerian national radio. Shortly thereafter, he left for Italy following death threats from Islamists. From 1995, he worked in Italy as a cultural mediator, interpreter, and translator in the field of immigration. ==Selected works==