SLAA and Read My World present Current Literary Affairs! CLA is a podcast about current events through the lens of literature. Reporter Gülden Ilmaz engages in conversation with writers from all over the world. How do the political circumstances in their country of residence influence their life and work? What are the topics we really should be talking about? CLA brings urgent conversation about fear and hope, outrage and pride, personal and political topics, books and art.

How do you give a voice to people that so often remain invisible in literature? Is it possible to write in the language of the oppressor? In this third episode of Current Literary Affairs, Lisanne Snelders speaks with Moroccan writer and director Abdellah Taïa about the power of language, homophobia and the continuation of colonial power relations. And about his mother.

Abdellah Taïa was born in 1973 in Rabat and lives in Paris. He published several novels written in French, like the gay coming of age novel L’Armee du Salut. He adapted the book to a movie in 2013, which was screened at the Venice Film Festival. Taïa is known as the first Arab writer to come out as homosexual and is a source of inspiration for a generation of Moroccans who want to free themselves of strict cultural norms.

Interview by: Lisanne Snelders
Editor: Maya Shamir
Production: Kerem Özilhan
Illustrator: Astrid Martirossian

Current Literary Affairs is a podcast by SLAA and Read My World. The podcast is in English. This is the third episode. This podcast was realized thanks to Productiehuis Noord, the media channel of ‘Verdedig Noord’. Special thanks to OBA, the Amsterdam Public Library.