Rabat – French President Emmanuel Macron named Leila Slimani, Moroccan-Franco award-winning author and journalist, as France’s top emissary for Francophone affairs, reported French news outlet Le Parisien.
Slimani met with Macron at the Elysee Palace on November 6, where she was named the personal representative of the president for Francophone affairs, added the news outlet.
Slimani will be charged with different actions, “including promoting French language, cultural diversity and mobilizing France’s allies on various themes regarding equality between men and women,” reported Le Figaro.
Born to a Moroccan father and a French-Algerian mother in Rabat, Slimani “represents the face of Francophone [countries] open to a multicultural world,” said a representative from Marcon’s government, adding that “she is a committed woman. She is part of a new generation that the president wants to emerge.”
Slimani majored in political science and media studies in Paris, where she acquired her French citizenship. In 2014 she published her first novel Dans le jardin de l’ogre and followed it with Chanson Douce.
The author left Morocco at the age of 18 to Paris after she obtained her high-school degree from Lycée Descartes in Rabat. She then majored in political science and media studies in Paris, where she acquired her French citizenship.
In November 2016, the 36-year old author received the prestigious Prix Goncourt for her novel Chanson Douce, which was the most read novel in France in 2016.
Translated into English as “Lullaby,” Chanson Douce quickly turned into a bestseller with more than 450,000 copies printed in 2016.
