At the Grand Bivouac, the discreet heroes of travel literature

We know from travel literature its leading heroes and its bestsellers. Of Kessel has London, passing through Bouvier or Shardall have nourished the fantasy of the solitary adventurer. If the editorial offering still relies on these first-person narrations, other stories are emerging, just like new writers with a fresh perspective. Driven by the desire to subscribe to these witnesses of the modern world, the 23rd edition of the Grand Bivouac, the film and adventure book fair in Albertville (Savoie), took place from October 16 to 20 (the screenings began on the 14th), to small editorial representatives of the sector.

“If the canons of travel literature remain substantially the same, that is to say the description, the elsewhere, the landscape, we still observe a form of mutation. In documentary films as in books, forms of narration appear which decenter the traveler’s experience. acquiesce Jean-Sébastien Esnaultgeneral delegate of the event.

Total immersion

On the publishers’ side, the phenomenon is sometimes illustrated by a surprising recourse to fiction, where travel literature usually tends to glean its material from reality. “Between biographies, first-person stories, novels, there is a lot to do in travel literature, it’s still a very dynamic sector! On the other hand, I have the feeling today that readers want to completely immerse themselves in a universe, itself nourished by a certain reality”details Isabelle Parent, director of Paulsen Editions, who was unable to make time due to the dates of the Frankfurt Fair.

With its “La Grande Ourse” collection, the house has made the bet of exploring the complementarity of genres, publishing new feathers likeAnaïs Pélier. A general practitioner by training, the author was particularly inspired by her travels to Antarctica to produce a first polar thriller, Caravansold more than 4,500 copies. In the same way, Delphine Minoui – faithful guest of the Grand Bivouac and author of Badjens (Threshold) –, finally swapped his reporter’s hat for powerful heroines embodying the Iranian resistance.

New pens, new narratives?

Also invited to the event, Virginie Troussier spoke about his work around Nicolas Jaeger (The man who lived highGuérin) during a literary meeting in the presence of Jennifer Lesieur, specialist in Jack London, Rose Valland or even Alexandra-David Néel, and of Sarah Marty (Sixty days, Denoël). “All three have the particularity of having written texts that move away from the codes of classic biography,” commented the journalist in charge of moderation, insisting on highlighting invisible lives.

Should we see a correlation between the revival of the genre and female writers, even though the book fair this year was held under the banner “Writers’ Veins”? “I believe that women tend to be interested in other subjects, almost anthropological, such as family, society”tent Lionel Bedinowner of the little house Livres du monde and author of a collection of women’s travels. If the postulate is not a guarantee of truth, certain independent structures do not hesitate to draw inspiration from it to stand out in a market economically dominated by the specialized labels of the big houses.

“I publish to 99% women” tell Stéphanie de Bussierreat the head of Akinomé. A house specializing in travel and ecology, the latter publishes a dozen new products per year, in the youth and adult section. Committed to the environment, the publisher takes care to ensure that its authors make long-term trips and that all of its titles are “uncoated and unlaminated ».

“At the trade shows, we’re a hit! »

With ten other publishers, including Transboréal, Magellan & Cie, Nevicata and éditions du Mont-Blanc – which notably introduced mountain thrillers to their catalog – the house is part of the Union of Independent Travel Publishers. The organization alone represents 3,500 travel literature titles. A strategy of pooling resources which, until now, has been able to ward off all unfavorable circumstances. “At the trade shows, we’re a hit!welcomes Mark Wiltzpresident of the UEVI and founder of Magellan & Cie. Last week alone, at the Bordeaux pocket book festival, we sold more than 600 titles. »

Although he admits that the segment owes part of its success to fiction – his “Miniatures” collection, made up of short stories from foreign literature, is an illustrious example – the director of Magellan & Cie editions procrastinates. “What keeps us going is, above all, a fund of securities that continue to sell ten years later”he argues.

While she is just beginning to develop a collection of “traveling poetry” inaugurated by the texts of Iocasta Huppen, Laurence Vanderhaeghendirector of Partir Pour editions, continues to add to her catalog of “personal but universal stories”. Its label “Errances” thus reconnects with traditional travel diaries, thought of as “titles to slip into your pocket”.

Develop and sustain the catalog collection

In finethe objective remains the same, regardless of the contours it displays: to offer the reader an immersive experience. After having adapted the great adventure stories of the early 20th century into comics^e century – Travel with a donkey from the texts of Robert Louis Stevenson or Boatswain based on the work of Joseph ConradFuturopolis editions also try their hand at non-fiction. “We have long considered travel diaries as snapshots, but I believe that today, it is also about developing a documentary collection with non-fiction to tell something else”explain Frédéric Schwamberger.

Delighted with the success experienced by The law of the soil d’Etienne Davodeau (2021), a sort of testimonial report sold in more than 170,000 copies, the director of the house reiterated the hybridization of the genre with the road movie ofEinstein andEtienne Klein In Yawning eternity and announces, for the end of the year, a cartographic odyssey of Ptolemy with Geographysign Jean Leveugle et Emmanuelle Vagnon, and in collaboration with the Bnf.