Marc Villard
Avoir les boules à Istanbul

Feeling Afraid in Adelaide

 

No more problems at work - Villard is retired - no more family holidays - the baby is now 20 years old. Writing is all that's left. Villard makes public his diary recounting his three months as writer-in-residence in the department of Creuse. Razor sharp impressions and acid wit guaranteed.

"Marc Villard, the author of fiery noir genre novels, manipulates self-mockery with wicked pleasure. An expert in auto fiction, a master of the short story, he is not a hero. Just an ordinary guy. Or almost: his small talk and big worries are nothing but stylistic bravura."
                                                                                                         Martine Laval, Télérama

 

Thursday 2nd: When I arrived the day before yesterday, I was thrilled. Blainville is a village of 4,000 inhabitants, situated in the Creuse, in other words in the middle of nowhere. The residence is the old house of Mathurin Bagieux, who was born here and a poet in his spare time. He published three collections as an author before dying of cirrhosis of the liver and was clever enough to sell his house to Antoinette Bourquin, the Vice-Mayor, suggesting she transform the place into a writers' residence. The residencies have been going on for ten years now and I am here as one of a group of five authors, all expenses paid for three months. Two of us are leaving in April for a second residency that will take them from April to July. After that they are applying for a creativity grant from the Centre National des Lettres which should guarantee six more trouble-free months. At the end of the six months Bourquin will have them back. These are seriously deep writers. Literature ain't easy. You have to think a lot before writing and then you can't work if you think too much. Unlike my colleagues, I haven't come here just to stay alive,  I'm here because my ex-wife Cynthia is claiming alimony and half the gold ingots I've got stashed in Room 7 of the residence. Go jump in the lake. Bitch.

Nicolas de La Casinière
Illustrator
Parution
June 21, 2012
Collection
Pages
96
Type
Grand format
Price
8,44 €
Isbn13
9782841725977
Size
13 x 18 cm

Digital reading copy