Farewell Tangier
Morocco

Farewell Tangier

by Salma El Moumni

Identity & Belonging Literary Fiction Psychological Fiction Feminist Fiction 2026

Summary

Growing up in Tangier, Alia is constantly subjected to the unwanted attention of men who scrutinize her body, follow her, and invade her space. Desperate to understand the gaze that makes her feel both exposed and ashamed, she begins taking intimate photographs of herself in the privacy of her bedroom. When the images appear online without her consent, Alia faces the threat of punishment and is forced to flee to Lyon, France. But leaving Morocco cannot erase the shame, fear, and cultural expectations she carries with her. Intimate and unsettling, this powerful novel examines the policing of women’s bodies, sexual identity, and the complicated search for freedom between two cultures.

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Country
Morocco
Africa
About the author
Salma El Moumni
Salma El Moumni

Salma El Moumni is a Moroccan-French writer born in Morocco in 1999. She grew up in Tangier before moving to France to pursue her education at the École normale supérieure de Lyon, where she studied literature. Her debut novel, Adieu Tanger, was published in French in 2023 and received the Prix Roman des étudiants France Culture in 2024. The novel explores the male gaze, female sexuality, cultural repression, and the experience of displacement through the story of a young Moroccan woman forced to leave her homeland. El Moumni’s writing challenges conventional ideas about shame, identity, and women’s freedom, examining how social expectations shape the way women experience their own bodies. She lives in Paris, navigating the cultural and linguistic worlds that also inform her fiction.

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Details
Published
2026
Author
Salma El Moumni