From reading to writing to publishing
Paul Fournel won’t tell you how he became successful or promote himself overtly. Instead, this French writer will comment on things in a matter of fact way. “I got into writing by reading I suppose. I loved reading as a child and was an intense reader, and when you read, you ask yourself questions about writing,” he says. Today, he has successfully published over 15 books in the course of three decades and is a writer cum publisher.
Here in Sri Lanka for the French Spring Festival Paul conducted several talks on his book ‘Dear Reader’ or ‘La liseuse’ as it is known in its original French version. He explains that the book is about an old publisher who gets his first e-reader and how it changed his life.
“We live in very exciting times. I am lucky to live in a place where you can walk down the street and find a bookstore but in places where that is not possible, e-books will help people read. Maybe one day schoolchildren will also benefit from it because instead of carrying heavy textbooks they can take e-readers which will be much easier,” he points out.
He also feels that constraints or no constraints, paper or no paper, books are only as good as the writer who writes them. “If there is a good book written in tweets (140 characters) I would still read it,” he says. He also points out that publishers tend to prefer publishing novels, a traditionally accepted format which has the best chance of success, which means that many creative manuscripts are left out. This is something he feels will change with e-books and he hopes to see newer, more unconventional publications because of it.
This soft-spoken writer’s eyes light up as he talks about the workshop he is conducting for children. “The little ones are very creative and it’s interesting to see what they will write,” he says.
Paul is president of a literary society named ‘Oulipo’, a group of writers and mathematicians who use interesting techniques as part of their creative process.
For example, there is a famous French book written entirely without the letter ‘e’ – something which French speakers marvel at because like in English, the letter ‘e’ is one of the most commonly used letters in French. This book, La Disparition or ‘the Void’ was written by Oulipo member Georges Perec and was well received in France.
Paul’ has one important message for people. “Please write, please translate and please publish. It is the shortest way to peace.”