The healthy book fair

With around forty exhibitors, the old book fair and all collections in Saint-Maurice-sur-Fessard attracted a large audience to the multipurpose room on Sunday. To the great satisfaction of Marie-Thérèse Saingeon, head of the Saint-Maurice-sur-Fessard heritage preservation association, organizer of this eleventh edition.

Over the years, the event has expanded with numerous collections of objects and articles, beyond old books, stamps and other postcards. It thus attracts a diversity of profiles among the public and exhibitors. Like Josuah Khaznadji, a bookseller who created Les Lointains du monde in Briare two years ago, the only general bookstore specializing in old and second-hand books within a 50 km radius. “I work on a few new books with local publishers like Jeu de l’oie or Corsaire and I create numerous events and signings,” he explains.

A local biographer

Like every year, the show has a guest of honor. This year it was a local, Émilie Chevillard. “I was welcomed with warmth and enthusiasm by the organization. I met passionate exhibitors who cherish the subject of the book, but also visitors particularly interested in my activity as a biographer. Some came to meet me with specific projects, others were seduced by the idea of ​​finally being able to transmit a fragment of their story. I was very touched by the stories revealed. Some moved me to tears,” explains this young woman living in Saint-Maurice-sur-Aveyron, who says she has rediscovered the authenticity that she appreciates so much in the interviews with her “biographers”. Émilie Chevillard strives, through her work, to carry high the colors of their existence in what is most fragile and most beautiful.