With more than 250 readings by actors and writers, this 4th edition of the Marathon des Mots, in Toulouse from 12-15 June, will bring together people who hope to share their love of reading. Because of its year-round support for literature and its desire to encourage exchange, the Jean Luc Lagardère Foundation is set to sponsor the Marathon des Mots for the third year in a row, by launching the "Rendez-Vous de la Jeune Création".
MARATHON DES MOTS
This year, the Fondation Jean-Luc Lagardère will be at the Studio du Théâtre National de Toulouse, where it will set up a lively spot for meeting and exchange open to the public. This space will show photographs by Lucille Reyboz (the Fondation Jean-Luc Lagardère's 2001 poet laureate), which give a behind-the-scenes look at the 2007 Marathon des Mots. For this occasion, the Fondation invites visitors to the "rendez-vous de la jeune création" featuring two programmes "Nouvelle vague" and "Sous influence". In addition, the Fondation Jean-Luc Lagardère is planning two unique encounters, one painting a literary portrait of Edmonde Charles-Roux, and another discussing the improbability of today's literary reviews. All of these events will be hosted by Christian Authier.
Nouvelle vague
To highlight the renewed spirit of French literary creation, the Fondation Jean-Luc Lagardère asked four journalists, Irène Frain from Paris Match, Marie-Laure Delorme from Le Journal du Dimanche, Augustin Trapenard from Elle, and Pierre-Louis Basse from Europe 1, to choose a young author with particularly daring writing. The selected authors are Saphia Azzedine (Confidences à Allah), Francis Leplay (Après le spectacle), Eric Laurrent (Renaissance italienne), and David Defendi (L’arme à gauche). This "new wave" will be at the Marathon des Mots, and their texts will be read by major actors.
Sous influence
Another aim of the Fondation Jean-Luc Lagardère is to encourage shared knowledge and emotions. It invited five of its laureate writers - Jakuta Alikavazovic, Jean-Baptiste Gendarme, Xabi Molia, Mathieu Terence, and Florian Zeller - as well as five other young authors - Christian Authier, Nicolas Fargues, Claire Fercak, Christophe Ono-Dit-Biot, and Laurence Tardieu - to come and speak about the texts that influenced them. In these talks, each author will read one of his or her own texts, then an actor or actress will read a selected text. Our guests will include Sara Mesguich, Anne Alvaro, Boris Terral, Hélène Fillières, Nicolas Vaude, and many others.
Link to the Marathon des Mots website:http://www.lemarathondesmots.com/
To read the writing project made by high school students with Grégoire Polet in 2007(in french), click here
Press Release
To read the press release (in french), click here
The schedule
Friday 13rd june at 8pm : Event Winner of the 2007 Grant Winner Anne Alvaro read Corps volatils by Jakuta Alikavazovic
Saturday 14th june at 6.30pm : Edmonde Charles-Roux, a literary portrait by young authors
Saturday 14th june at 8pm :The Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation event at Petit Théâtre - TNT, Nicolas Vaude read Julien Parme de Florian Zeller.
To read the full schedule, click here (in french)
Slideshow
To watch the slideshows of photos from the "New Wave" in 2007, click here
