Listen to journalist Erica Wagner in conversation with writer Aria Aber about “Good Girl”, her first novel published by Hogarth Press and shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025. Through the story of the character Nila—from her Berliner childhood to her adulthood—this book reveals the metamorphosis of both a character from the Afghan diaspora and of a writing process at a crossroads between different languages and literary genres. As the conversation unfolds, the novelist and poet evokes how her readings influence her life, her writing and her inspirations.

As part of the Rendez-vous littéraires rue Cambon [Literary Rendezvous at Rue Cambon], the podcast “les Rencontres” highlights the birth of a writer in a series created by CHANEL and House ambassador and spokesperson Charlotte Casiraghi. 

(00:00) : Introduction

(00:56) : Presentation of Aria Aber by Erica Wagner

(04:07) : On the author’s vocation as a writer

(05:30) : On choosing to write in English

(07:27) : On her debut poetry collection and the choice of writing a novel

(09:37) : An original take on girlhood

(11:26) : On photography and literature

(13:28) : On the publication process

(15:13) : Reading an extract of “Good Girl” by Aria Aber 

(17:19) : On her writing process

(20:03) : The writers that inspire her

(24:21) : A main character torn between shame and desire

(26:54) : Exploring new ways of literary creation

(28:35) : On the reception of the book

(33:20) : The ending questionnaire of “les Rencontres”

© Aria Aber, 2025, Good Girl, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Good Girl : A Novel by Aria Aber. Copyright © 2025 by Aria Aber. Published by Hogarth, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC

The Ungrateful Refugee © Dina Nayeri, courtesy of Canongate Books Ltd

Aria Aber, Hard Damage © Aria Aber, 2019. Published by the University of Nebraska Press

Anna Karenina © Leo Tolstoy, 1877