Leïla Slimani is a French-Moroccan writer, journalist and diplomat. She was born in 1981 in Rabat, Morocco, into a French-speaking family. At the age of 17, she moved to Paris, where she studied Political Science. Before turning to writing, she worked as a journalist. She published her first novel – Dans le jardin de l'ogre – in 2014 and immediately gained recognition from critics and readers alike, winning the Mamounia Prize. Chanson douce cemented her place in French literature and earned her the Prix Goncourt, France’s most prestigious literary award. Published in over forty countries, with more than a million readers worldwide, Chanson douce has been adapted for the cinema and named one of the ten best books of the year by the New York Times Book Review. The Land of Others, the author’s third novel, won the Madame Figaro Grand Prix de l’Héroïne, and marks the beginning of the trilogy concluded by I'll take the fire – following a second volume, Watch us Dance – which has garnered widespread acclaim from critics and readers alike. In addition to her novels, Leïla Slimani has published several books of opinion and essays – including The Scent of Flowers at Night, The Devil Is in the Details and Assault on the Border – and remains active in civic life in defence of human rights. She led a campaign to help Moroccan women assert their rights, for which she was awarded the Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women’s Freedom.
