India celebrates French literature
Spicezee Bureau

New Delhi: As a part of Bonjour India, festival of France in India, the French Embassy and CulturesFrance will present a series of literary events entitled “Littératures : A French Festival of Letters”. Under this framework, 16 writers from France covering a wide range of literary genres like children literature, poetry, essay, fiction writing, memoirs and the graphic novel will be visiting Delhi, Trivandrum, Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur and Pondicherry.

Littératures : A French festival of letters, planned in two parts during the course of Bonjour India, will commence from December 7 to December 12 in Delhi, and then split into two groups to visit Kolkata from 12th December – 16th December 2009 and Trivandrum & Kochi from 12th – 16th December. The second part will take place from January 18th to January 20th where another group of writers will be in Chennai and then it will conclude at the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival 2010 from 21st January – 25th January. The 22nd of January 2010 is labeled as Bonjour India Day at the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival 2010.

Among the featured authors for the December session, are Pascal Bruckner, novelist and essayist, one of the most famous ‘Nouveau philosophes’ (New Philosophers) who has taken a controversial stance on multiculturalism and the Iraq war and whose latest book deals with the contemporary approach to love.

Internationally acclaimed Graphic novelist David B of Epileptic fame (a very influential graphic novel whose style inspired Marjane Satrapi) is also participating in the December session. A new talent of French graphic novels, author of the brilliant Kaboul Disco (soon to be published in English by Harper Collins India), Nicolas Wild, will join him.
Noted poet André Velter and travel-writer Olivier Germain-Thomas will also be part of the adventure. Both of them have extensively traveled around South Asia, India in particular, which has had a strong influence on their writing.

The new generation of French fiction writers are well represented with Grégoire Bouillier, whose writings belong to the ‘autofiction’ genre of which he is one of the most gifted proponents; Laurent Mauvignier, whose latest novel, Des Hommes, has been nominated for four of the most prestigious French literary prizes (Prix Goncourt, Prix Femina Prix Décembre and Prix Medicis), Catherine Cusset who shares her life between France and New York and whose writings reflect this double belonging. Last but not least, we have Philippe Vasset, a resolutely contemporary former corporate investigator turned novelist dealing with issues such as the creation of fiction, but also globalization, commodification of culture, arms dealings, Internet, cityscapes and more.

In January, for Chennai and Jaipur, two writers originally from Africa and writing in French: Alain Mabanckou and Véronique Tadjo will be part of the festival. Also coming are book designer Marion Bataille and acclaimed children book illustrator François Roca. India specialist Christophe JAffrelot and India-lover and philosopher Catherine Clément will be with us for the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival 2010.

All along the festival, the French authors will participate in debates and conversations with their Indian counterparts on their work as well as on topics ranging from colonization to love in the 21st century or modernity in fiction.