French writing and politics

Leïla Slimani, President Macron's champion of French culture and language, is interviewed by presenter Shahidha Bari about her new role and her novel Lullaby which won the 2016 Prix Goncourt Plus Emile Chabal from the University of Edinburgh discusses Savages: The Wedding by Sabri Louatah - a novel imagining the first Arab candidate for President is shot. The TV rights for the quartet of books have been sold and the first book is winning prizes and comparisons with the Neopolitan novels of Elena Ferrante. Fleur Darkin of Scottish Dance Theatre talks about her stage adaptation of L'Amant by Marguerite Duras, while Julia Waters from the University of Reading explains how the French colonial experience in Indochina informed the work of Duras and other writers.

Lullaby by Leïla Slimani is now published in English in a translation by Sam Taylor. Savages The Saint-Étienne Quartet Volume 1: The Wedding is written by Sabri Louatah and translated into English by Gavin Bowd. The Lover, adapted and directed by Fleur Darkin and Jemima Levick, is at the Lyceum, Edinburgh from 20th January to 3rd February.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod.