Leïla Slimani

speaker

494 appearances 2 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 22 Aug

Leïla Slimani’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.

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Fresh Air · French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani on feminism & freedom · 27 Jul 2026 podcast

And it's something difficult for a woman, but it's something essential, accepting not to be likable.

So in order to be free, I think you have to accept that and to accept being selfish also sometimes.

And a lot of women don't give themselves the right to be selfish because we are very often raised with the idea that we should care, care for others.

And, you know, that's what Virginia Woolf wrote so brilliantly, the angel of the house.

The angel of the house is the one who is always thinking about herself.

giving the good spots to her friends and giving the best part of the chicken to the guests and taking the rest for her.

So I don't want to be the angel of the house.

So that's, I think, the thing that I did to be free.

Being a writer makes me selfish because I'm selfish with my time.

I'm selfish with my space.

And I think also that it's not a very likable thing to say, but very often I'm waiting for people to adapt to my schedule and to adapt to my vision of things because my only goal and my obsession is writing a novel.

And so I consider that my husband, my children, everyone should understand that and that they should all adapt to that.

I know it's very selfish, but it's how it is.

And it would be impossible for me to change that.

Oh, I think it's going to sound a little bit harsh, but I think the lack of generosity of people, how cold people were.

And when I say generosity, it's not material.

It's generosity of their time, generosity of their smile, how cold people were and how indifferent they were.

You know, I was raised in a country where people are very friendly to each other and there's a real, real sense of solidarity.

If someone arrives as a newcomer in a city, for sure, after...

One or two days, a lot of people will invite this person to dinner and will take care of him or of her.

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