For this episode we are excited to share with you the recording of the launch of How to Leave the World, by Marouane Bakhti, which was translated from French by Lara Vergnaud and published by Divided Publishing in 2024. The launch took place at our space in Brussels on the 30th of November last year.

About How to Leave the World

Everyone is asking about his identity. Gay? Muslim? French? Moroccan? Instead of choosing a side, he writes a book. A book about the forest and the city, Paris and Tangiers, shame and forgiveness, dating apps and spiritual discovery. A book about growing up as a diaspora kid in rural France, with desires that want to emerge at any cost. Told in mesmerising prose, How to Leave the World is a beautiful non-answer.

“A rare book that depicts the isolation and poetry of rural life.” Annie Ernaux

About Marouane Bakhti

Marouane Bakhti is a writer and arts journalist. Born in Nantes, France to a Moroccan father and a French mother, he studied history and journalism at the Sorbonne. He writes criticism for Mouvement magazine and lives in Paris. How to Leave the World is his first novel.

Marouane’s reading is followed by a conversation with Oscar Mathieu.

Oscar is a cultural worker based in Brussels. He performs, writes, draws, translates, tattoos, researches. His focal points of interest include self-organization, faggotry, and dogs.