Main content

Leïla Slimani takes on Tolstoy

Prix Goncourt-winning novelist Leïla Slimani discusses following her epic Moroccan-set trilogy with her next big writing challenge: her first play, based on Tolstoy's Resurrection

Prix Goncourt-winning writer Leïla Slimani this year completed a trilogy of novels; an era-spanning epic family saga set in Morocco, which concludes with the semi-autobiographical I'll Take The Fire.

Never one to stay in her comfort zone and compelled to write, she has now embarked on her very first play. She discusses the challenges of adapting Leo Tolstoy’s moralising final novel Resurrection for stage, and the surprising connections with her previous, diverse, body of work.

Ahead of the play's world premiere in Lorient next week, theatre director Simon Delétang also joins from his rehearsals with Comédie-Française to discuss collaborating with Slimani on the project.

Presenter: Nikki Bedi
Readers: Sumaiya Chaudhary and David Holt
Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Tue 29 Sep 202622:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Tue 29 Sep 202603:32GMT
  • Tue 29 Sep 202612:32GMT
  • Tue 29 Sep 202617:32GMT
  • Tue 29 Sep 202621:32GMT
  • Tue 29 Sep 202622:32GMT