French women writers of today: feminism, identity and madness

The Villa Gillet is France’s centre for international writers. It runs two international festivals each year – the Assises internationales du roman (Lyon’s international book festival) in May, and Mode d’Emploi (a festival of ideas and non-fiction) in November, as well as a large year-round outreach programme. This year, it is programming a strand on French women writers, whose texts tackle a diversity of issues including feminism, mental health and social norms.

For Literature Live Around the World, Lucie Campos, director of the Villa Gillet, will be presenting a programme including three exciting women writers: Joy Sorman, Virginie Despentes and Fatima Daas. She will be leading a discussion from Lyon with Sorman about her new book A la folie (2021), followed by two readings of texts from the French feminist and writer Despentes and the young and talented feminist Daas by prominent French actresses Camelia Jordana and Anna Mouglalis. The text of the first reading was published in the wake of the #MeToo movement. The second is an excerpt from a debut novel dealing with lesbian, Muslim and feminist identities in the Parisian suburbs.

Presented by Assises internationales du roman, Lyon, France