The Bassillac international book fair celebrated intimate stories by authors from the South-West

Little everyday resistances

The theme of the show? The Resistance. However, the winning books were often far from the Second World War. Instead, they highlighted small individual resistances with the aim of living an emancipated existence.

Like Marie-Christine Renaudeau, for example. The author, originally from Villenave-d’Ornon in Gironde, recounted in an autobiographical story “When the doors and shutters are closed”, a marital ordeal endured for years. The book and chapters are short, on purpose. “I wanted this book to be a detonator for other women and for the reader to face the violence by reading quickly, for example at the doctor’s or the lawyer’s office.” The professional baker was awarded the special prize from the literature department of the Les 3A association in Occitanie. Jocelyne Cita, for her part, won the Special Grand Prix. Her book, “Exist”, evokes a difficult childhood, marked by a mother who had “difficulty establishing a bond with her family”. Jocelyne Cita lives in Mirepoix, in Ariège. As for Carole Merlo, resident of Saint-Aubin-du-Médoc, she recounted in the first volume of “Héritages interlacés” the struggle of a couple to escape from a peasant environment, which they did not like, in the 1930s. Her alert pen obtained the “ Prize for the most beautiful literary pen. The publication of the second volume is imminent.

Other award recipients

At around 3 p.m., ten other people were distinguished by the presentation of a diploma and a small box. Édith Jacquemot received the Grand Prix de la ville de la commune, Arthur Hoppner that of “best life story” with a work evoking her twinning with a twin brother, Frédéric Floréal Mas convinced the jury with his fantastic novel “Les Fées de Brocéliande”, and won the “best novel prize”. Hervé Vignes, author revitalized by the work of Nathalie Vincent-Arnaud, poet to whom he dedicates his work called “The Hummingbird Instant”, received the “prize for the best collection of poetry and prose”, Jacqueline Béal that of the “prize Périgord and Aquitaine terroir”, Mathilde Levasseur for “science fiction and fantasy”, Jean Kubler for “best detective novel”, Erik Bertrand the “reading committee’s favorite”, Olivier Andrieux for best comic and Patrick Vanhee for “Historical narrative prize”.