Littérature Live, the international literature festival of Lyon organised by Villa Gillet, brings together over 40 authors across the city and the Metropolis. The programme offers meetings, performances, and writing and translation workshops.
The British Council is supporting the festival at two events bringing authors on Granta's Best of Young British Novelists list to France.
22 May: Échos de la terre
7PM
Conversation with three authors whose books integrate natural spaces at the heart of the narrative, exploring the unexplored facets of a shifting land. The nurturing land in The Seed Keeper (Les Semeuses, Rue de l'échiquier, 2024, trans. Nino S. Dufour) by Diane Wilson, a writer native to the Mdewakanton Sioux tribe, or the story of Rosalie Iron Wing, a young girl torn from her roots and living in 1970s Minnesota who reconnects with her past and discovers the immense cultural heritage of her ancestors. The land as a key element in Chant de la rivière (Cambourakis, 2024), by author Wendy Delorme who questions love, maternity, transmission, and memory outside of norms by portraying natural elements as messengers of the present time. Lastly, the transforming land in Birnam Wood (Buchet Chastel, 2024, trans. Marguerite Capelle) by Eleanor Catton, a New Zealand author listed among Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2023, an ecological thriller exploring issues related to new technologies.
25 May: Spotlight UK : la nouvelle garde franco-britannique
7PM
An evening of literary discoveries, featuring readings of excerpts, interactive sessions, and discussions. Sara Baume (Ligne de fuite, Noir sur blanc, 2023, translated by France Camus-Pichon from the English A Line Made by Walking) and Camilla Grudova (La reine des souris, La Table Ronde, 2020, story translated by Nicolas Richard from The Doll's Alphabet), both selected by the prestigious London literary magazine Granta as "Best of Young British Novelists" of the decade, will provide an insight into the British literary scene. Elitza Gueorguieva (Odyssée des filles de l’Est, Verticales, 2024), Lisette Lombé (Eunice, Seuil, 2023), Diaty Diallo (Deux secondes d’air qui brûle, Seuil, 2022) and Raphaëlle Red (Adikou, Grasset, 2024) will offer a glimpse into the new francophone literary scene.
