Workshops, meetings, signings, the tenth edition of the children’s book fair began this Saturday, October 12 and continues this Sunday, October 13, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Sainte-Radegonde village hall.
“I’m ten years old, I go to school and I hear beautiful words softly, I laugh, I fly kites, I dream, I fly.” Alain Dhers, president of the festival, could sing like another Alain, Souchon, to celebrate this cultural event which has become unmissable. “The first author of the festival, Amélie Sarn, told me at 10 a.m. at the opening: there is something special happening here.”
A craze that continues, seen and felt yesterday, and will be this Sunday. “We want free entry and workshops, we defend pleasure books.” Everything is said. Or almost.
Workshops to get your hands on the inkwell
Meetings with authors are pure joy for children and adults alike. “When I draw, I want me to like it too,” responds logically Laurent Audouin, father of investigator Mirette. The public sees plenty of peepers and also gets their hands on the watercolor pen. Some lucky schoolchildren even benefited from these times of discussion and practice ahead of the festival.
A festival which desecrates the book while covering it with laurels by carrying out a work of transmission in all humility and lightness. No lesson, the pleasure of sharing a moment, a passion. For all. A creation prize for middle and high schools in Aveyron is being created this year. “We do not transmit opinions but values with words, drawing and thought”, summarizes Saïd Benjelloun whose calligraphies offer a journey in poetry. Make people dream, awaken people, break down prejudices. And without saying it, or writing it, opening up to a world to discover and understand the other.
Continuation and end of the trip this Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Sainte-Radegonde village hall. And as everything ends with songs, let’s return to Alain Souchon: “Let me dream that I’m ten years old.”
