December 2017

Word of mouth

  • Gordes literature prize

 

 

 
 Frédéric Beigbeder à la Bastide de Gordes

Frédéric Beigbeder, détente en lecture, à la Bastide de Gordes.

When Jonathan Lambert booked a stay at Bastide de Gordes he surely never thought he would be setting up a literary prize for the place. 2017 saw the second edition of this delightful event.

 

Once you’ve got over your amazement at the place, the most striking thing at the Bastide de Gordes is the omnipresence of books. They are everywhere. Even in the bathrooms. It was while reading in the bath that actor and comedian Jonathan Lambert suddenly thought a place like this deserves its own literature prize. The idea caught on, with sponsorship as founding concept. Each of the four jury members (friends, actually) presents a young novelist whose first novel comes out in the autumn. Frédéric Beigbeder, Régis Jauffret, Christophe Ono-dit-Biot and Patrick Besson each sponsor one they think is a great writer in the making. Wonderful revelations that inspire their closed-door deliberations.

 

A lively debate whets the appetite!
It’s Michelin-starred Pierre Gagnaire who feeds the hungry jury in the Pèir, the Bastide de Gordes’ gastro­nomic restaurant where he presides. There’s also a public debate on the tasty issue of “cuisine in the novel”, where the authors and the chef throw ideas around to the amusement of the audience as they await the jury’s decision. The 2017 prize goes to Frédéric Beigbeder’s sponsoree Eva Ionesco, for her book Innocence, published by Grasset. “She is called Eva, she is adorable with her golden curls and plump arms [...] A photographer, she [her mother] uses Eva as an erotic model from the age of four, making her adopt ever more suggestive positions, and sells the pictures to magazines...” This book takes us into stormy waters.