大象传媒

French Moroccan author Le茂la Slimani won critical acclaim and a reputation as an author of bold & brutal fiction with her first two novels. Adele is about a bourgeoise Parisian wife and mother who lives a sexually promiscuous secret life. In Lullaby, a nanny kills the children she鈥檚 employed to care for, a story currently being adapted as a drama series starring Nicole Kidman. Le茂la has also written the first two in a planned trilogy of novels based on her own family history, and has published short stories and non-fiction. She has won France鈥檚 most prestigious literary award the Prix Goncourt, and in 2017 she was appointed as President Macron鈥檚 personal representative to Francophone countries.

For This Cultural Life, Le茂la Slimani tells John Wilson about her childhood in Rabat, the daughter of a prominent Moroccan economist and politician. She reveals how she was motivated to write novels after the death of her father who had been convicted of financial fraud and imprisoned, but who was posthumously cleared of any wrongdoing. She chooses her French-born maternal grandmother, who told stories to Le茂la , as a formative influence on her creative imagination from a young age. Having covered the Arab Spring uprisings in Morocco and Tunisia as a journalist for Jeune Afrique magazine, Le茂la discusses how news stories have inspired much of her work.

Producer: Edwina Pitman