Frontignan is hosting the 29th edition of the International Black Novel Festival on May 29 and 30, with the theme this year being “Whoever says the last laughs…†Quite a program.
For twenty-nine years already, the team of the Festival international du roman noir (FIRN) has been deploying treasures of imagination to bring to a stage, in every sense of the word, what is best in terms of noir novels. “We were the first festival to give voice to crime fiction authors, a genre long considered the dregs of literature. This is why we have the reputation of being an iconoclastic and a little punk festival, especially since we offer different ways of speaking and using the book.“, recalls Yves Jaumain, head of FIRN.
This year, fifteen authors from France, Belgium, Italy, Morocco, Spain and the United States, established glories or talents in ambush, will have to work on a question that deserves attention: in a world where everything goes wrong, does the black humor novel still have the right to sneer? The chosen theme, “He who laughs last laughs best,…†echoes that of ten years ago, “Death of laughter†. A return assumed by the literary news of the dark humor novel, a year of local elections where opportunities for laughter were rare, and a state of the world which makes you want to draw the curtains rather than fireworks.
Something new under the black sun
For the first time, an entire day will be devoted to library and media library agents, booksellers and other essential links in the book chain welcomed to the auditorium of the Montaigne media library. On the program: the discovery of the Arab thriller carried by two voices from the new Moroccan scene, Hicham Lasri and Zainab Fasiki.
The other new feature, at least in its variation, is a writing workshop in baroque format – 22h22min2s – in which fourteen Frontignanaises will have the lofty mission of collectively writing a short story of exactly 22, 222 characters around the character created by Michèle Pedinielli, Maggie, a somewhat temperamental octogenarian with a penchant for rum and cigars, and owner of a Glock 17. Just that.
Also discover the exhibition “Nuit et Jour†dedicated to the sensationalism of the press in the 1950s, at the Izzo room, mounted in partnership with the universities of Paul-Valéry of Montpellier and Nîmes. Fun and immersive visits, writing workshops and investigative games promise to take you back into the sulphurous backstage of these post-war scandal magazines.
Other times to share around the book
The rest of the festival will take place according to the rituals that make it so special, including meetings with the authors at the Montaigne media library and under the nomad tent, Place du Contr’un, to laugh about everything with them. No subject will be swept under the rug, even the most difficult and serious, during these meetings, aperitifs and interactive games.
At the same time, public readings and performances in original creation will be an opportunity to discover a novel or a short text in another way. Drawing and visual arts workshops with the authors will be the time to take off the mask and flirt with vampires. Short story competitions, dark dictation, treasure hunts will spice up these two days where he who laughs last laughs best…
Carnaval à Mertvecgorod
Don’t look for the town of Mertvecgorod on a map, you won’t find it. On the other hand, if you open one of the books by Christophe Siébert, the author of the “Mertvecgorod” cycle, you will immediately come across it. Mertvecgorod is the imaginary city-state on the Eastern European side, but a real trash can of the world that Christophe Siébert depicts in seven of his puzzle novels. He who had never led a writing workshop was entrusted with 56 hours with 67 adults or young people from Frontignan to create their carnival character with them.
At the same time, the workshop participants designed their personal mask with two visual artists (Sarah Mordicus Fistole and David DH Duart) from recycled elements and waste after having collected them from the beach or canal in collaboration with the CPIE Littoral d’Occitanie. They were then trained for four to six hours in groups, in reading aloud their carnival portrait by Lizzy Ling and Thomas Andro, then recorded by Manon Millon. A sarabande, to be seen and listened to, of 67 people, which combines body and soul, and embodies an imaginary carnival reiterating the power of the mask in the inversion of norms. Their workshop output work will be presented on Friday, May 29, at 2:15 p.m., Espace Westlake, Place du Contr’un. A sound exhibition of the masks will be held from May 29 to June 16 at the Montaigne media library in Frontignan.
