One of France’s most fascinating and charismatic writers is returning to Hamburg: Leïla Slimani last visited NDR in November 2021, just days before another coronavirus lockdown, to present the first part of her major family trilogy. Now she returns with the final volume, »I’ll Take the Fire« (translation: Amelie Thoma). In it, the Prix Goncourt winner tells the story of Mia, a successful writer in Paris who struggles with memory lapses caused by a kind of »brain fog«. Her doctor advises her to take a trip to Morocco, the country of her childhood, which she left years ago. When she arrives at her grandparents’ house, she feels like a stranger, because her memories of her family have been almost completely erased. But who is she without her family history? Only slowly does her memory return ...
PERFORMERS
Leïla Slimani reading
Neda Rahmanian German reading
Alexander Solloch moderation