Le Livre sur la place de Nancy celebrates its 44th edition in style with nearly 600 authors and, at its head, Didier Decoin, the president of the Académie Goncourt. The latter, which is somewhat at home in Nancy (in 1988 it entrusted its archives to the capital of Lorraine, the city where Edmond de Goncourt was born two hundred years ago) has also chosen to launch the Goncourt detainees, in partnership with the Center National du Livre and the Ministry of Justice. The Nancy-Maxéville Penitentiary Center, but also 30 other centers across France (i.e. some 500 prisoners), have indeed agreed to play the game. No karting on the program, therefore, but the 15 novels selected by the Ten of at Drouant to read by November 11 _ the jury of prisoners will then select three, the final vote taking place in Paris on December 15.
It is this literary operation, highly acclaimed by the prison administration, that five of the jury members Goncourt, Didier Decoin, Paule Constant, Philippe Claudel, Carole Laurens and Pierre Assouline came to announce on this Friday morning. At 9:30 am, presentation of identity papers, deposit of bags and laptops, and transport, duly supervised, to the prison gymnasium. It is there that a good forty detainees are wisely waiting, delighted, it seems, with this moment of “escape”. After the usual (quick) speeches, punctuated by polite applause, place for questions from the prisoners _ ten of them, six men and four women, chosen on a voluntary basis, will constitute the Nancy-Maxéville jury. “How did you select the 15 novels?” “What makes a book considered good?” “How do you become a Goncourt academician?” “I am a good reader, can I belong to the Academy?” “What are the consequences for the winner?” … Between naivety and malice, the questions follow one another. Surprisingly, men are in the majority, which is not so common these days in the literary field.
In the gymnasium of the Penitentiary Center, about fifty prisoners came to listen to the members of the Goncourt jury
MP
Clap of end, some dedications, and the academicians, “enchanted” they say by the seriousness and the enthusiasm of the meeting, to pass the multiple mesh doors to find the open air. Suddenly, the walkie-talkies sound, guards rush into a door, an intervention is ordered. Without salamalecs, the academicians are directed straight to the exit. Fiction gives way to reality.
The festivities now take place near Place Stanislas. Give honour where honour is due. The multi-president Didier Decoin has, as tradition dictates, carte blanche this Friday at 6.30 p.m. at the Opéra national de Lorraine. The 1977 Goncourt prize for John L’enfer (Seuil), screenwriter and president of Les Écrivains de Marine, chose to invite Isabelle Autissier (Le Naufrage de Venise, Stock) and Isabelle Carré (Le Jeu des si, Grasset), thus bringing together its passions (navigation, cinema). Saturday, rebelote with the Goncourts. At the Hôtel de Ville, at 10:30 a.m., the Goncourt de La Biographie Edmonde Charles-Roux by Pierre Assouline will be awarded to Jean-Pierre Langellier for his biography of Léopold Sédar Senghor (Perrin) First associate of African origin in grammar, man of faith, essayist, poet and president of the Republic of Senegal, the destiny of Léopold Sédar Senghor was exceptional. His love of words and poetry and his fights for negritude among others are told by Jean-Pierre Langellier in his biography.
A few applause and just enough time to go to the Administrative Court to be, from 11:30 a.m., “As close as possible to the Goncourt brothers”. The life of the Goncourt brothers is fascinating. Famous thanks to their Diary, they are also at the origin of six novels, written with four hands. This is what Robert Kopp explains to us (Les Hommes de Lettres and other novels, Books), while Alain Claude Sulzer (Les Vieux Garçons, Chambon) is interested in the last year of Jules’ life. We never leave them… Goncourt evening, “Juledmond”, Saturday, at the National Opera, at 7.30 p.m. The two Goncourt brothers formed a close couple and dreamed of being called “Juledmond”. Authors of an abundant body of work, reactionaries, conservatives, but also avant-garde, loved and hated at the same time, they left their mark on their time. An hour in their company thanks to Robert Kopp for the texts, with the complicity of Paule Constant, from the Goncourt Academy, Jean Lebrun for the presentation and Michel Vuillermoz, from the Comédie Française, for the readings.
But it’s not just the Goncourts in literary life. Saturday morning, no sleeping in. Meet at 10.30 a.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts for the meeting entitled “Les Jeunes Filles, La rage, La passion”. Lying about a rape, leaving everything – one’s family, the bourgeoisie – for love, killing out of commitment and conviction… Félicité Herzog, A Brief Liberation (Stock), Pascale Robert-Diard, La Petite Menteuse (The Iconoclast ) and Monica Sabolo, La Vie clandestine (Gallimard) tell through three very strong, powerful and personal texts, the journey of young women who, at some point in their lives, took a step aside and radically changed the line drawn. And at 12 noon, at the Museum-Aquarium of Nancy, we will talk about “Power of words and collateral damage”. Brotherly love, loving friendship… stories that explore the ambiguity of relationships but also society, its violence, its wars and its beauty despite everything. With Olivier Adam, Below the Roses (Flammarion), Kaouther Adimi, In the Bad Wind (Seuil) and Marie Nimier, Little Sister (Gallimard).
Hardly time to eat a bite and you are invited at 1:30 p.m. to listen to the American novelist Amor Towles In his new novel, the author of the success of A gentleman in Moscow (Fayard) takes us on a road novel by two brothers who are trying to save their skin with Lincoln Highway (Fayard). Or, Lola Lafon, at the prefecture, who, at the same time, will tell you about her night spent at the Anne-Frank Museum (When you listen to this song, Stock) while Philippe Claudel (From some borders, Paulsen) and Andreï Kourkov (Les Abeilles grises, Liana Levi) will converse from 2 p.m. at the Town Hall.
And again, on this Saturday afternoon, Yann Moix, Emmanuel Carrère, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (Le Goncourt 2021) and the writer Touhfat Mouhtare, Carole Fives, Brigitte Giraud, Anne Serre, Jean Teulé, Mathias Enard, Emma Becker, Catherine Millet, Gérard Leclerc, Leïla Slimani, Laurent Gaudé, Paule Constant, Bérengère Cournut, etc.
The Book in the Square
Rest Sunday, and, again, a plethora of authors, meetings and dedications: Jean-Christophe Rufin, Tatiana de Rosnay, Sandrine Collette, Lionel Duroy, Yves Harté, Patrick Chamoiseau, Marc Levy, Yann Queffélec, Franck Bouyse, Alain Mabanckou, Sarah Jollien-Farde (the very fresh Fnac novel prize), Simon Liberati, Nicolas Mathieu, etc., etc.
Finally, let’s point out one of the innovations of this 44th Nancy fair: “Le Livre Suspendu”, which consists in buying an additional book in order to give it to a reader who does not have the means to buy it. An operation that combines solidarity, humanity and sharing a passion: reading and whose godmother is none other than… Isabelle Carré. The circle is complete.
