Around a table at the Joseph-Schaefer media library in Bitche, the local jury gathered, ready to deliberate. Tuesday January 14, as part of the Le Livre festival in Metz, a literary event bringing together several selections across the Moselle, their mission was to choose a winner from three works: the reading and analysis of The Inland Sea by Lucie Taïeb, After that Eliot Ruffel, et Ilaria or the conquest of disobedience by Gabriella Zalapi. Each of the seven members had their own opinion, formed by hours of reading. But the exercise promised to be delicate.
“The selection was not really unanimous, which complicated the debates,” explains Christian Lebrun, who moderated the discussion as a member of the Le Livre association in Metz.
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The final on February 27
The arguments clashed, and two of the works were quickly dismissed. “The jury was not sensitive to the writing of the last two books, deemed more suitable for a young audience,” he specifies. The themes focused on youth did not resonate with the assembly, which retained The Inland Sea. Lucie Taïeb creates a choral story where residents fight to preserve their places of life, exploring the links between past, present and future.
This is how this first sorting ended. Lucie Taïeb’s work will be included in the final selection, scheduled for February 27 in Metz, alongside other titles chosen by juries in different towns in Moselle. Among them are This old song that burns by Alexandre Lenot, Cross the mountains and come to be born here by Marie Pavlenko, and Malville by Emmanuel Ruben.
On this occasion, different marquees will be set up at Place de la République, where meetings and talks with the finalist authors will be on the program. The final winner will win the Le Livre à Metz – Marguerite-Puhl-Demange prize, thus crowning this literary celebration.
