He must be the only one to join the prestigious “Normale Sup” school even though he does not have his baccalaureate. Olivier Ginestet, a 47-year-old from Rochelle, saw his destiny change thanks to books. “But also thanks to my wife who encouraged me to take the diploma for access to university studies (DAEU). I had in fact left school at the age of 16, I had divorced, by mutual agreement, with the school,” concedes the man who is at the same time librarian, writer, publisher and researcher!
Short novels that say a lot
His childhood, spent in Royan, was not easy. “I didn’t find my place in the school system but I loved culture and books. » With his DAEU in his pocket, he will continue his studies in Poitiers where he will obtain a master's degree in history. “I am also passionate about politics and I wrote a thesis on Michel Crépeau (mayor of La Rochelle between 1971 and 1999, Editor’s note)… which then became a book,” continues Olivier Ginestet. In the meantime, he became a librarian at the Conservatory of the La Rochelle music school. The next step? 2016 with the creation of the La Rochelle publishing house Amok. “I started by publishing short novels, 140 pages maximum, it worked quite well but the health crisis disrupted the rise of Amok,” continues the man who also wrote novels.
The Kessel miracle
Since Covid-19, Amok has changed focus and placed emphasis on “rediscovered classics”. As an informed researcher, Olivier Ginestet haunted the walls of the La Rochelle university. “I met the beneficiary of Joseph Kessel there by chance. We hit it off and he offered to publish an unpublished work by Kessel that Gallimard had refused! Amok published “First World War” which was such a success that Gallimard then published it in its Folio collection,” the Rochelais likes to say, who has also just joined “Normale Sup” in Paris. “I am going to write a thesis there on Eugène Pelletan; three years of research into the genesis, erasure and possible revival of a republican ideal,” reveals this lover of words.
Zola then Blum
In the coming days, Amok will release a collection of articles by Émile Zola. “It’s about Zola, a journalist, his writings collected in “my hatreds” – when he was 25 years old – are delicious. » Then in the spring, it is Léon Blum with “En lisant” which will be the subject of a publication in the small publishing house Amok.
Olivier Ginestet, caught up in these various news stories, put his career as a novelist aside. The forty-year-old says he is concerned about the omnipresence of screens in our daily lives. “But I still want to be optimistic, the human species has not finished evolving. Nobody saw the digital revolution coming. It always comes back to education and political will. It’s certain that having 14-year-olds read “L’Assommoir” by Émile Zola is no longer necessarily suitable. We certainly need to offer shorter texts to young people,” says Olivier Ginestet, grateful to literature for having “changed my life.”
