By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
DOMEYROT, France– It seems hardly imaginable, but just over a month ago we were in Leipzig, enjoying the music of Bach and drinking in the ambience of that ancient city, which has known many vicissitudes, concluding with its incorporation into the Soviet-controlled DDR until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. And now, here we are in rural France, with its tranquil atmosphere, while we read the news with anxious eyes, concerned about our home and loved ones in Israel.
But here all is peaceful and green, with fields and trees as far as the eye can see. I was lucky enough to be able to participate in the first annual Bookfest, held in the nearby village of Gouzon and organized by two enterprising young women, Judi Alexander Castille and Vicky Eveleigh. The event enabled authors to display and sell their books, and also to give a reading to the assembled audience.
So, we arrived early at the site and were able to set out our wares (the eight novels I have written and published to date) and await the arrival of the other authors and the audience of book-lovers. In addition to the ten participating writers there was a food truck providing hot food and a cake stall, so nobody would go hungry. Hundreds of second-hand books were also on sale, and there was a constant coming and going of eager bookish people.
At set intervals individual authors gave readings from their books, and this provided an insight into the different imaginations and genres that seem to have captured the minds of the writers in attendance, most of them in English. I was particularly fascinated by the French writer, Anna Cazine, who confessed to being fascinated by Agatha Christie and the British royal family, leading her to write a mystery entitled Enquete royal a Buckingham, which I was tempted to buy, but missed my opportunity.
The subjects about which other authors had written included childhood memories in dilapidated British cities, an account of a sixteenth century witch who returns to haunt people in the twentieth century and help women who have been wronged. Sarah Gunn, who teaches and writes about IT, read out a story she had written about the other side of a fairy tale as the result of a ‘writing prompt.’ Kate Rose read a few of her touching poems and Greg Shapiro read and performed from his book, The American Netherlander, and had us all in fits of laughter.
When my turn came I sat myself down at the reading table and did my best to bring to life the segment of one of the chapters of my book,’ Chasing Dreams and Flies; a Tragicomedy of Life in France, and was told afterwards that I got a good response from the audience, which laughed in the right places and applauded politely at the end (as they did for everyone).
The event was both enjoyable and profitable, and we went home a few books lighter and with a sense of satisfaction at having been able to meet and mingle with so many like-minded people. I can hardly wait for next year’s Bookfest, at the same time and place.
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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson is an author and freelance writer based in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion, Israel.