Before becoming one of the most unique writers of his generation, Philippe Jaenada multiplied odd jobs and unusual experiences. In With a bare voicehe looks back on his journey, his books and his own way of telling reality.
Philippe Jaenada is one of those writers who always has something interesting to say. Like his novels, the author likes to talk, recount his youthful memories, unusual moments, but also those of his adult life, made up of rituals and small, essential habits.
Every morning, he goes down to the café below his house, where he observes people, chats with Pierre or Paul, before returning home to start writing. A routine that suits him perfectly and to which he is deeply attached, but which he nevertheless interrupted in 2024 when he left to tour France, a trip that he evokes in his previous work, Casualness is a very beautiful thing (Mialet-Barrault, 2024).
In this series of With a bare voicethe author is not stingy with anecdotes, particularly about his youth, this period of his life when he was not yet a writer. A time during which he did a series of odd food jobs, but also unique human experiences. He thus recounts this year spent locked in an apartment with closed shutters, without telephone, radio or television, alone in front of his typewriter, writing false letters from readers for an erotic magazine. He also talks about his time at the magazine Here iswhere he wrote gossip of all kinds for fifteen years, but also his collaborations with Paris Boom Boom, The Other Journalwithout forgetting the period when he was host of Minitel rose.
Then, one day, almost by accident, after finding himself in police custody for having helped an old lady, he decided to start writing and published, in 1997, The Wild Camel. It is the beginning of a long literary adventure. Initially, he wrote novels largely inspired by his own existence, before realizing that he no longer had much to say in that area and that fiction ultimately interested him little.
And then, once again, it is chance that changes the course of things. Watching a documentary dedicated to Bruno Sulak made him switch to the mystery novel, with the success that we are enjoying. In 2017, he notably won the Femina prize for The Serpentwhere he demonstrates the innocence ofHenri Girard in a sordid triple murder case that occurred in 1941.
From now on, each new book Philippe Jaenada is impatiently awaited by the press and readers alike, fervent fans of his inimitable style, mixing investigative stories, digressions and personal anecdotes about his life and his family.
These five episodes can be listened to without ever causing boredom, like each interview given by Jaenada to a radio or television journalist. We particularly remember his time in Bookmakers in 2020, at the microphone of Richard Gaitett.
We will soon find Philippe Jaenada at the BnF François-Mitterrand for a masterclass in the company of Marie Laborywhich will be broadcast during the summer on France Culturebefore finding the author in booksellers on August 16, 2026 with The Unknown Woman of the Quai de Javelwhich is released by Flammarion.
Benoit RICHARD
