Quais du Polar 2024 : Day two!
Hello everyone, here’s my billet about Day Two à Quais du Polar. First of all, look at my new notebook for the panels, talks, interviews and whatnots!
Early morning I attended a panel entitled Between the map and the terrority, someone at Quais du Polar was quite facetious with titles this year.
The authors invited to this talk were Cécile Cabanac, Franck Bouysse, Joseph Macé-Scaron and Piergiorgio Pulixi. They were together in this because they all write books deeply rooted in the land they chose as a setting.
Cabanac wrote a book set in Basque country, Bouysse’s last book takes place in Montana, Macé-Scaron chose Roquebrune-sur-Argens in the Var department and Pulixi is from Sardinia.
I’ve only read a book by Pulixi and I remember that Sardinia was a character in the plot as its wilderness and culture were imbedded in the story. It’s a shame it hasn’t been translated into English but it’s avaible in Italian, French and Dutch. Incidentally, the epigraph of Pulixi’s new book is a quote by Bouysse as he is a writer he admires very much. He sang his praises.
It was interesting to hear them explain how they work to write these books, from unearthing local stories to exploring the aftermath of a crime in a village. Bouysse says he’s never been to Montana. I’ve been there and I can tell you that all the books I had read before my trip had not prepared me properly to the immensity of the landscapes. So, I’m a bit wary of his book but I’ll download a sample anyway.
After this talk my friend and I wandered a bit in the giant library in the Palais de la Bourse. There were a lot of people inside the Palais, where the heart of the festival beats. Around 11:30 am, the queue to get in was all around the building, and it is a big one. I don’t know how long the wait was but we were happy to escape and have a wonderful lazy apéro and lunch at a brasserie, near the Théâtre des Célestins. The weather gods were still on our side, even if it was windy.
We stayed put until it was time to enter into the theatre and attend Darkness, take my hand, a one-hour talk with Dennis Lehane. Christine Fermiot was impressed to interview him and I think that both of them were in awe of the setting. The theatre was full, up to the second balcony and this is what it looks like from the stage when it’s empty. Impressive, no?
The whole theatre was silent, listening to the interview and many thanks again to the wonderful interpreter, even Lehane’s accent is easy to understand. Lehane felt a bit stiff at the beginning but eventually opened up, talking about Boston, his upbringing, racism and his career as a writer.
A big crowd attended the festival on Saturday. It was crazy and what really struck is that us, book lovers are a very civilized crowd. What we see on social networks between book lovers transfers into real life: we are a gentle, polite and attentive crowd.
Lines may be long but people read books, chat with their friends or bond with strangers who are fellow readers. There’s a brotherhood and sisterhood of readers and I can’t help thinking that the world would be a better place if everyone got the reading bug. Now where are those pangolins when we need them.
A lovely walk later, we were at the City Hall again, browsing through books. Here’s the day’s book haul.
I loved the Peter Farris I read recently, I want to read another one. And after that interview, I had to get another Lehane. The Barton was included in my Quais du Polar membership. Has anyone read it?
I also snatched a few Gallmeister goodies, yay! Short stories by Trevanian, Johnson and my beloved Pete Fromm found a good home.
I was time for our next panel with Terry Hayes, Jo Nesbø and DOA. I haven’t read any books by them. There are so many Nesbøs that I don’t know which one I should start with. Any recommendation? The theme was about crooked investigators. What happens when your main character falls off the wagon? The journalist didn’t really keep the line of the debate but there were interesting interactions between the writers.
The next event was a first at the festival: a crime fiction quiz in the Grand Salon! The anchorman was the Belgian journalist Michel Dufranne.
The audience was split into five teams with a writer as a captain. Ours was Franck Thilliez and the others had Bernard Minier, Alexis Laipsker or Claire Favan. Forget what I wrote earlier: that crowd was very rowdy and noisy. And knowledgeable.
Despite the noise, the technical issues with the slideshow and the fact that Michel Dufranne speaks too fast, it was fun and it confirmed that my knowledge of crime fiction is tiny.
It was time to join the husbands for a Moroccan diner at what you’d call a hole-in-the-wall restaurant but the food and the service were great. A wonderful end to a great day and time to get some sleep for the next day of the festival.
Book Around the Corner 
What stunning venues! This sounds so much fun. It’s lovely what you say about the nature of the crowds too.
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The venues are all in walking distance from one another and yes, the city lends great venues. It’s part of the charm of the festival, going into places that are not always open.
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I don’t think I’ve ever attended a literary festival where there were interpreters (other than for ASL, American Sign Language, for accessbility). But I’ve definitely wished there were interpreters sometimes. (When, for instance, the author is international and has appeared just to read from their work, not to be on a panel, not to answer questions.)
I’m not an expert on Jo Nesbo, but I did read the first in the series when it was published in English here, if you’re interested. I read a couple more, too, and enjoyed them as well.
http://www.buriedinprint.com/jo-nesbos-the-bat-1997-trans-2012/
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I’m not sure I understand: you’ve been to literary festivals where foreign authors read their work and there was no translation? Or only subtitles, maybe?
It’s really neat that we have these headphones and excellent interpreters. There are two channels on the headset, one in French and one in English. Isn’t that great? One of the journalists said he felt he was at UNO or at the EU parliament!
Thanks for the Nesbo recommendation. I hope his books aren’t too graphic.
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That’s right, perhaps an indication of not having enough/appropriate funding? There’s a big annual international festival in Toronto and they have panels and readings, discussions and presentations, basically. In the reading sessions, with three or four international authors reading from their books for about 15 minutes each, especially with poetry, the authors who could not translate for themselves and could not speak English would read in their own language. There were always people attending who could understand (more than half the people living in Toronto were born in other countries) but I just caught mood/emotion.
That all sounds amazing! I’m very impressed.
As the commenter mentioned below, the early books are not complex; with Redbreast things get more complex and maybe more satisfying (it’s nearly twice the length too!). But I tend to expect that one or two books in a crime series could be disappointing or, at least, simple, and I still prefer to begin at the beginning. (I don’t remember them being graphic, and I didn’t mention that in my review, but did mention it about a couple of other crime novels in those years so I would guess it wasn’t too troubling.)
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I truly don’t understand how you can leave people on the side of the road and just have readings in a foreign language without a translation. To me it’s really puzzling and elitist as hell but what do I know?
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I’m not a person who attends these events – I have no taste for crowds and a limited attention span for lectures or talks – but you make it all sound interesting, so thanks!
I’ve read a lot of Jo Nesbo, but have cooled a little towards his books later on*. He’s very, very good at writing ‘page-turners’ where you really want to know what happens next. The plots can (occasionally – not too often) turn rather gruesome. If you are interested, I’d advise starting with the ‘Harry Hole’ series, but not with the first one or two which have the hallmarks of someone learning his trade – they are not very good. Perhaps try one of three quite good ones in a row: The Redbreast, Nemesis, The Devil’s Star. One of those should help you see what Nesbo’s strengths and weaknesses are, and allow you to decide if he is for you, or not.
*This may be in part because I read his very early books ‘late’, if you see what I mean!
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It’s a fascinating festival because it has many activities beyond talks. One day I’ll go to the museum and hear a writer talk about a painting. There are also music & literature events, visits at the school for commissaires de police, a giant inquiry in the city, stuff for kids, crime fiction films in various cinemas,… It’s incredible.
Thanks for the Nesbo recommendations, I’ll put them on my Goodreads account.
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