Nearly all of the authors presented in this book have continued to produce novels and/or films since launching their literary careers in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. The continuity of their production indicates both that their publishers are willing to continue promoting them and that they have remained committed to their artistic projects. In the process of building their own literary (and cinematographic) careers they have also paved the way for new authors of North African descent who have made their literary débuts since 2006. The 2005 riots, which spread throughout France's banlieues in October of that year after the accidental death of two adolescents of North African heritage, attracted huge attention and interest from journalists and politicians to France's marginalized urban populations. Authors including Mohamed Razane, Karim Amellal, and Mabrouck Rachedi all released their first novels in the wake of these riots: Razane's Dit violent and Amellal's Cités à comparaître both appeared in 2006, Rachedi's Éloge du miséreux in 2007. Reviews and discussions of these books often appeared in newspaper and magazine ‘society’ pages but not, to their authors’ disappointment, in literary sections or literary magazines. They were presumably relegated to social coverage in the press because they all contain politically charged plotlines. They feature adolescent male protagonists of North African heritage struggling with pervasive discrimination, ineffective educational resources, and little hope of future employment. Razane's and Amellal's protagonists have taken a turn toward violence, with Razane's Mehdi planning a suicide attack in his banlieue. These novels all successfully convey a thematic and emotional connection to the frustration that led up to the 2005 riots: Laura Reeck calls Razane's Mehdi a ‘child of the 2005 riots,’ and Rachedi cites himself as one of the victors of the riots, since the events sparked interest in his writing.

While print media regularly presented these novels as important and interesting for understanding the social context of the French banlieues and riots, the authors—surprisingly—did not participate in many televised interviews to discuss their fictional production. The only recently discovered author to tour national television and radio talk shows is Sabri Louatah, who published the first volume of his four-part series Les Sauvages in January 2012.