How to Leave the World - Marouane Bakhti

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

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.

Translated by Lara Vergnaud 

Longlisted for the 2025 Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses.

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.

Divided Publishing
English
Softcover, 112 pages
216mm x 139 mm