Franck Bouysse and Thomas Flahaut in conversation
From Countryside to Factory: Exploring Social Change
Moderated by Salomé Kiner, writer and journalist at Temps and Heidi.news
In French interpreted into English
This event will be livestreamed. You are more than welcome to ask questions to our invited writers:
* either directly during the event by sending a question over WhatsApp to this number: +41 79 926 42 51;
* or before the event by sending over a question by email to communication@fondation-janmichalski.ch
Please make it clear to which writer you are directing your question. Thank you!
Event translated into English: YouTube Live
In French: YouTube Live
Franck Bouysse, born in 1956 in Brive-la-Gaillarde in Corrèze, is a prize winning French writer. He spent a large part of his childhood in his grandparents’ farm. After studying biology, he moved to Limoges to teach, and now divides his time between Limoges and the Corrèze. He has always been fascinated with American literature, which is a major source inspiration for his writing. He has published fifteen novels, including, at La Manufacture de livres, Grossir le ciel (2014, Prix Michel Lebrun, Prix Polars Pourpres, Prix SNCF du polar), and Né d’aucune femme (2019, Prix des libraires, Prix Babelio, and Grand Prix des lectrices de Elle). His latest novel, Buveurs de vent (Albin Michel, 2020), was awarded the Prix Jean Giono. His books explore the beauty of the countryside, and the tensions between tradition and progress.
Thomas Flahaut, a novelist and scriptwriter, was born in 1991 in Montbéliard in Doubs, France, in a family of workers. He studied theatre in Strasbourg before moving to Switzerland to follow a creative writing course in Bienne. He founded a Franco-Swiss literary collective, Hétérotrophes and now lives in Bienne. Both his novels are published by Éditions de l’Olivier and explore the lives of factory workers now and in the past. Ostwald (2017) was a finalist for the Prix Stanislas and the Prix de la Vocation as well as being selected for the 2018-2019 Roman des Romands. His second novel, Les nuits d’été (2020), inspired by his own experience of work in the bernese Jura, describes the problems and expectations of young people working in a factory on the border between France and Switzerland.
