The Modern Novel

Biography

Leïla Slimani was born in Rabat in 1981. Her father was a banker and her mother a doctor, half-Alsatian, half-Algerian. In 1999 she came to Paris to study at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (known as Sciences Po in French). After briefly working as an actress, she returned to her studies at ESCP Europe, a business school. She then obtained an internship at L’Express magazine before working for Jeune Afrique. She left the magazine in 2012 to concentrate on her own writing, though still works for them on a freelance basis. She has since written two novels, the second one of which won the Goncourt Prize.

Other links

Leïla Slimani
Author Leïla Slimani urges Moroccans to rebel against ‘medieval’ laws
Leïla Slimani (in French)
Leïla Slimani, le poids lourd de la rentrée littéraire française (in French)
10 choses à savoir sur Leïla Slimani, prix Goncourt 2016 (in French)
Interview (in French)