Join us to meet French-Algerian author Fatima Daas on 1st March for a presentation of her first novel La Petite Dernière / The Last One. Showered with prizes and accolades since its publication in 2020, Fatima Daas's powerful autobiographical debut novel explores themes of religion, sexuality and conflicted identities. To celebrate the launch of her book in English, the author will engage in a dialogue with Dr. Caroline Verdier, a lecturer in French at Strathclyde University. This event is bilingual and accessible to non-French speakers. Followed by a book sale and book signing with Outwith Books. Click here to pre-order your copy. Please click here to register.
© Olivier Roller
About the author Fatima Daas was born in 1995 and grew up in Clichy-sous-Bois, France, where her parents settled after arriving from Algeria. During her years at secondary school, Daas participated in writing workshops led by Tanguy Viel. Influenced by Marguerite Duras and Virginie Despentes, she defines herself as an intersectional feminist. The Last One is her first novel (available here)
The youngest daughter of Algerian immigrants, Fatima Daas is raised in a home where love and sexuality are considered taboo, and signs of affection avoided. Living in the majority-Muslim suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, she often spends more than three hours a day on public transportation to and from the city, where she feels like a tourist observing Parisian manners. She goes from unstable student to maladjusted adult, doing four years of therapy—her longest relationship. But as she gains distance from her family and comes into her own, she grapples more directly with her attraction to women and how it fits with her religion, which she continues to practice. When Nina comes into her life, she doesn’t know exactly what she needs but feels that something crucial has been missing. This extraordinary first novel, anchored and buoyed by the refrain “My name is Fatima,” is a vital portrait of a young woman finding herself in a modern world full of contradictions. Daas’s journey to living her sexuality in spite of expectations about who she should be offers a powerful perspective on the queer experience. “The Last One by Fatima Daas: A hypnotic debut" The Guardian. “Fatima Daas debut has the urgency of well-made cinéma vérité…" The Times Literary Supplement.
DATE & TIME: Tuesday 1st March, 6pm. Venue: Alliance Française Glasgow, 3 Park Circus, G3 6AX Glasgow This event is free, limited tickets available. Please click here to register. Donation box available at the event or click here to find out other ways you can donate to the AFG.
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