Laila Karrouch: "I know they can attack me and say: 'How can you, a Muslim, talk about these topics?'"

BarcelonaThroughout her life, writer Laila Karrouch (Nador, Morocco, 1977) has had to unlearn and relearn a series of things that were instilled in her from childhood. "I come from a culture where we have learned things that don't fit with the life I have here. Over time, I have sought forgiveness from the people I have constantly judged. I've spent many years shedding labels, and it's unfair for me to put them on others," reflects Karrouch. Around this intimate exercise, the writer has built the novel Swear You'll Return (Univers), a love story between two women in the Rif in the 80s and 90s. "Homosexuality between women in the Muslim world is taboo, it's not talked about. But different love has always existed and will always exist. Denying it is absurd," argues the author.

Based on conversations with several Muslim women, Karrouch has constructed the relationship between Malika and Souad from when they are children until they reach adulthood. Malika grows up with the absence of her mother and a distant father, so she has no close family member to confide her anxieties in when her feelings for Souad begin to manifest. Souad, on the other hand, is a believing and practicing girl who wears a veil. When their love comes to public light, Souad's mother accuses Malika of provoking her and denies that her daughter could like women. Beyond what is socially accepted and prohibited, Karrouch wanted to talk above all about the shame that homosexual people feel in the face of their desire. "Many feel rejected by their families. At that time, moreover, there was social rejection, the possibility of them being persecuted and expelled from the village. And before facing all of this, they face themselves," points out the writer.

Karrouch arrived in Catalonia when he was eight years old and settled in Vic with his family. The writer has followed a very similar path to that of fellow Vic author The vocation of a writer

Karrouch arrived in Catalonia when she was eight years old and settled in Vic with her family. The writer has followed a very similar path to that of fellow Vic author Najat El Hachmi, of whom she is a second cousin. Both attended the same school and the same high school, and they debuted in literature almost simultaneously. Karrouch published her first novel in 2004, De Nador a Vic (Columna, Premi Columna Jove) and in the same year Jo també soc catalana (Columna), by El Hachmi, was published. "We are two people with the same trajectory who think, write, and have different opinions. It's important that it's like that, because I don't represent all women from Morocco. We shouldn't live with the hypocrisy that everyone is Muslim and a believer," says Karrouch.

Since she published her first book, Karrouch has tried to combine her literary vocation with her work as a nurse. "I feel that the title of writer is too big for me. Many days I arrive home exhausted and spend 10 or 15 days without touching the computer. My dream would be to have an hour every day to be able to write," she points out. For many years she worked in the emergency service, until she needed to change jobs and moved to Toulouse, in the south of France, where she works as a home care nurse. "It was very difficult for me to make that decision, and then I had to go through a significant period of grief. But in the emergency room I worked five different shifts in a week, and that ended up causing me memory problems, disorientation, and anxiety," she explains. With two stories pending to be written, Karrouch is confident that she will be able to shape them soon and does not rule out returning to Catalonia in the future: "This country attracts me a lot. In terms of gastronomy, climate, and people, we are the leaders in Europe".