Friday, June 29, 2012

Festival du Premier Roman

That’s the festival of the first novel to you and I. It’s held every year in the town of Chambéry in the Savoie department of south-east France and this year I was fortunate enough to be invited to participate on the strength of my first novel The Soldier’s Song.
So I got to spend a wonderful June bank-holiday weekend in Chambéry, giving readings, taking part in translation workshops and helping to celebrate the 25th year of this unique festival. One of the highlights was taking part in a public discussion on the war novel with
Prix Goncourt winner Alexis Jenni and another was a slightly soggy but still good fun garden party at Les Charmettes, the house of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. My only regret is that, due to the very nature of the festival, you can only be invited to participate once!

Visit the website of
Festival du Premier Roman (in French)

Watch my video presentation on
what it means to write your first novel