54 Quotes by Leïla Slimani

I like to describe my characters as though they were all trapped in a glass box.

I had a nanny growing up in Morocco, and my parents encouraged me to put myself in her shoes sometimes.

I, too, am interested in identity and Islam, which is what people expect of us. But one must not write what is expected. It's important for North African writers to show they have other things to say.

A nanny is a woman who lives in an apartment, but the apartment is not her own. She raises children, teaches them how to walk, how to speak; she gives them food - but these children are not her children. So she is in a very ambiguous place.

I remember, when I was a teenager, people telling me, 'You know, when you are a mother, you will never feel lonely. You will feel so much love, and you will be fulfilled by this love.' Then I became a mother. And I learnt that is absolutely wrong: you can feel very lonely with your children, even if you love them.

Motherhood is not only something very pure and very full of love, it can be full of dark things, too.

I think maternal instinct is a male construct that has been used for centuries to keep women in their place, at home.

My parents were lovers of books, and they raised us in a manner that viewed freedom and subversion as indispensable.

I like anti-hero women. Negative female characters interest me.