The beautiful days of Leïla Slimani
Oh the beautiful days! 2024
Interview with Leïla Slimani and guests, hosted by Olivia Gesbert.
Readings by Anna Mouglalis.
Born in Rabat, Morocco, in 1981, Leïla Slimani is a writer and essayist known for her commitment to women’s rights and freedom of expression. Born into a French-speaking family, her father was a senior Moroccan civil servant, while her mother was the first woman doctor to enter a medical specialty in Morocco. The writer completed her higher education in France, first with classes préparatoires littéraires at the Lycée Fénelon, then with the Institut d’études politiques de Paris. She tried her hand at acting at the Cours Florent, then became a journalist for Jeune Afrique from 2008 to 2012, before turning to writing.
In her novels, but also in her essays and articles, Leïla Slimani doesn’t hesitate to tackle controversial subjects (feminism, women’s sexuality, colonialism), while at the same time claiming her dual Moroccan and French nationality, “a true double belonging”. She regularly speaks out on burning social issues, such as the criminalization of homosexuality in Morocco and the #MeToo movement.
It was with her second novel, Chanson douce (2016), that the writer gained international recognition. This book, which explores the tensions between a nanny and a bourgeois family, won the Prix Goncourt and was adapted for the cinema.
In 2020, she published La guerre, la guerre, la guerre, the first part of a trilogy entitled Le Pays des autres. She has also published Le Parfum des fleurs la nuit (The scent of flowers at night), a beautiful personal account in the collection “Ma nuit au musée” (My night at the museum) (Stock).
During the event, she will meet with actress Anna Mouglalis, who shares her feminist commitments, and with her editor at Gallimard, Jean-Marie Laclavetine.
To read
Le parfum des fleurs la nuit, Stock, 2021.
Le pays des autres, Gallimard, 2020.
Chanson douce, Gallimard, 2016 (Prix Goncourt 2016).
Dans le jardin de l’ogre, Gallimard, 2014.
Interview with Leïla Slimani and guests, hosted by Olivia Gesbert.
Readings by Anna Mouglalis.
Born in Rabat, Morocco, in 1981, Leïla Slimani is a writer and essayist known for her commitment to women’s rights and freedom of expression. Born into a French-speaking family, her father was a senior Moroccan civil servant, while her mother was the first woman doctor to enter a medical specialty in Morocco. The writer completed her higher education in France, first with classes préparatoires littéraires at the Lycée Fénelon, then with the Institut d’études politiques de Paris. She tried her hand at acting at the Cours Florent, then became a journalist for Jeune Afrique from 2008 to 2012, before turning to writing.
In her novels, but also in her essays and articles, Leïla Slimani doesn’t hesitate to tackle controversial subjects (feminism, women’s sexuality, colonialism), while at the same time claiming her dual Moroccan and French nationality, “a true double belonging”. She regularly speaks out on burning social issues, such as the criminalization of homosexuality in Morocco and the #MeToo movement.
It was with her second novel, Chanson douce (2016), that the writer gained international recognition. This book, which explores the tensions between a nanny and a bourgeois family, won the Prix Goncourt and was adapted for the cinema.
In 2020, she published La guerre, la guerre, la guerre, the first part of a trilogy entitled Le Pays des autres. She has also published Le Parfum des fleurs la nuit (The scent of flowers at night), a beautiful personal account in the collection “Ma nuit au musée” (My night at the museum) (Stock).
During the event, she will meet with actress Anna Mouglalis, who shares her feminist commitments, and with her editor at Gallimard, Jean-Marie Laclavetine.