La Grande Librairie, a television program hosted by Augustin Trapenard on France 5, will air on September 9 at 21h05. The episode focuses on the growing concentration of power within the publishing, press, and cultural industries, as well as the new challenges writers face. It highlights the mobilization of writers in response to these issues, particularly the protests that followed the abrupt dismissal of Olivier Nora, director of Grasset editions, by Vincent Bolloré in April of the previous year. This event led to the formation of the Collectif États Généreux, a group of notable authors including Virginie Despentes, Philippe Claudel, Tania de Montaigne, Laurent Binet, and Hervé Le Tellier. Their collective work, La grande évasion (Buchet Chastel), discusses the current crisis in the literary sector and calls for a reevaluation of the precarious status of writers and methods to ensure their independence.
Adèle Haenel's first book, Viser juste (L’Arche), tells the story of a woman who breaks her silence after years of pedocriminal aggression, denial by adults, and complicity from a system that failed her. The book is described as a story of reclaiming words, body, and sensitivity through art, philosophy, and friendship. Philippe Jaenada, known for works such as La petite femelle (Julliard), La Serpe (Julliard), and Au printemps des monstres (Mialet-Barrault), has written L'inconnue du quai de Javel (Flammarion), which investigates the unresolved murder of Louise Cansot, a young Breton woman who became a model for Montparnasse painters and was found dead on the banks of the Seine in September 1949. This book is a tribute to forgotten individuals in both small and great history.
Lilia Hassaine's novel JE (Gallimard) offers a reinterpretation of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, giving voice to Rochester's first wife, a young Creole woman born in Jamaica in the early 19th century, who ends up locked in the third floor of her husband's manor. The book examines the psychological violence that leads to a woman's despair and madness. Ananda Devi, winner of the Neustadt prize in 2024, discusses freedom in her work Chronique d’un royaume perdu (Grasset), which revisits the history of her native island in the form of a myth. This book is described as a family fresco that is both grandiose and terrifying, and a song of love and revolt.
The program also highlights the bookstore "La Dévoreuse" in Angers (49), which was established nine months ago with an editorial line committed to giving space to minority voices. The booksellers carefully select each book to promote diverse perspectives. Additionally, the program features Lubin Bellier, a finalist in the second season of the "Si on lisait à Voix Haute?" contest, who will read an excerpt from Georges Simenon's Le chien jaune, a classic in the long series of Maigret.
Writers and Publishers Address Industry Challenges in New Literary Programs and Publications
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