Published in 2022, the “Marvelous Tales of Burgundy” are a big success for their publisher, Itka editions. This collection of thirteen tales taken directly from Burgundian folklore is almost out of stock.
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What if you immersed yourself in a tale from your region? This is the promise of the book “Marvelous Tales of Burgundy”, written by Léa Chaillou and published by the Itka publishing house, based in Roussillon-en-Morvan in Nièvre.
In this collection, thirteen stories of around ten pages each bear witness to the imagination of the inhabitants of Burgundy before the 19the century. Léa Chaillou had started working on the story collectors for her end-of-studies thesis. “At that time collectors traveled all over France to write down stories about local folklore”she explains. “Some writings were then published, but the problem was that certain regions were more interesting than others. Burgundy was not the most interesting region, so many stories were somewhat forgotten.”
The Wonderful Tales of Burgundy are a real success for this Nivernais publishing house.
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© Editions Itka
Accessible in our time in the public domain, the author has done research to find the most interesting ones. “Then there was rewriting work because certain terms did not suit the current vocabulary, I even had to translate one from Nivernais-Morvandiau”recalls the 32-year-old writer. A cursed fountain, mysterious stones or magical creatures… this work contains unpublished stories, from several Burgundian places, which have never been republished for centuries.
Of the 750 copies printed, 600 have already been sold. “All I can guarantee is that we have between 10 and 20 left here, after which the rest may have all already been sold”confides Laurent Chaillou, the manager of the publishing house and father of the author. The collection has been available in most bookstores in Burgundy since its publication in September 2022.
“We had a very good launch, particularly thanks to the end-of-year holidays”welcomes the manager. “The locals seem to be interested in the books and so are the tourists who want to learn about the area.”
If this book puts a smile on the faces of the author and the publisher, it also allowed this publishing house to get its head out of the water a little. “We had a very complicated start”recognizes Laurent Chaillou. “We have existed for 5 years and when we launched we published Léa’s first book which is a novel in 2020. Except that we released too many copies, then the Covid arrived and we recorded non-activity for two years. So this book on the tales of Burgundy, even if it has not covered all the costs generated since the beginning, it does good and that really pleases us as a small publishing house.“
We are more cautious about the number of copies per print run, we still have to succeed in balancing the accounts
Laurent Chailloumanager of Itka editions
This success even allows the publisher to envisage a more serene future. Before the end of the year a second collection entitled “Tales and legends of Burgundy” will be published. Comforted by its success, Laurent Chaillou also plans to republish “Contes marvelous de Bourgogne” with a new edition before the holidays.
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