Member of the 2025 jury of the Closerie des Lilas Prize, which devoted the novel by Florence Seyvos “a magnificent loser” (Éditions de l’Olivier), the novelist Valérie Perrin confides in Fermina on her reading habits.
Tuesday, May 6, the Prix de la Closerie des Lilas 2025 was awarded to Florence Seyvos for its dizzying a magnificent loser. Among the guest jurors of the Prize this year, Valérie Perrin, the author of the successful novels Change water from flowers or Tata.
The writer told us about her real crush on a magnificent loser, a work that marked her. “For the most important self when you love a book, it is to offer it. As soon as I like a book, I offer it, and I will gladly offer a magnificent loser. Especially to people who read a lot and love colorful characters. I will advise him with pleasure, ”she explained in interview. An interview which was also an opportunity to tell him about his relationship to reading …
-What do you think are the ingredients of a successful book?
He must not give us a gift, that he is uncompromising, quite affordable in terms of writing. You can say very complex things in an extremely simple way. The characters must be very endearing, that there is always a bit of madness, that there can be very black and very hard moments … and that it is anyway, as Jacques Prévert says, “imbued with light”. I think they are my favorite characters and novels. And obviously, you need a real intrigue, a real issue, a real need to write a story. Let us think …
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