Rush to the written word for the third Saint-Papoul book fair

Élisabet Guillot has it all figured out. It is not because we live in a village of almost 1000 inhabitants and whose main force of attraction is an incredible Monument of Romanesque Art (see Art of Living page) that we must rely on fragile existing laurels. To be in line with the trend of religious tourism, she could have held a missal fair, but in itself that is not very glamorous. It is therefore a Book Fair, third edition, which is presented at the end of autumn, just so as not to let you sink into an autumnal spleen nourished by daily cataclysms.
Élisabet Guillot, without H, she insists on it, is therefore the organizer of this book fair, helped by the two active associations of Saint-Papoul: “Les Amis de Saint-Papoul” and the cultural association of the same name.

Pearls or turnips

An author herself, she founded an association “Les Plumes Indépendantes d’Occitanie” based in Bram, whose main goal is to highlight the quality of self-publishing. Too often placed on the margins of official literature and the literary prizes that rain down at the start of the school year, self-publishing can conceal gems or, conversely, rubbish written by people frustrated by the refusals of publishing houses. We can also argue that politicians who set out in search of a vain literary aura, it must be noted with or without a ghostwriter on their payroll, do not plateau any more in terms of sales than an unfortunate self-published product, despite their fame. Two very different careers then. As Élisabet puts it, self-publishing gets a bad rap, even though she sees it as a choice of freedom, in substance and in form. It was in 2021, while living in Palau-del-Vidre in the Pyrénées-Orientales, that she undertook to launch her book fair with the Cercle des Auteurs Catalans. Since her move to Saint-Papoul and the relaunch of the salon in Aude, the enthusiasm has been such that she has been forced to refuse authors. Limited to around thirty exhibitors in the city's village hall, illustrators, Mangakas, publishers and self-publishers from Perpignan, Nice, Albi, Montpellier are rushing to sign their work.

Target Generation Z

Attracting young people caught in the meshes of social networks is a real challenge faced by Élisabet and the associations preparing this show. A youth literary prize ceremony (Sunday at 4:00 p.m.) where the Castelnaudary high school is ardently involved in subjects that they work on in advance, will then be decided by a popular jury ranging from 25 to 70 years old. The Cosplay wave is not forgotten. It will be held on Sunday, December 8 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., in a day specially dedicated to young people, with shows focused on Star Wars culture given by the Polaris troupe and its famous lightsaber battles and other Murder Party . Generation Z is the preferred target. A fan of novels labeled Feel-Good or New Romance which are a hit and partly save the world of publishing, they are framed by very precise codes, equipped with luminous visuals not always to the best effect, setting them apart from standard novelistic production.

Real rush

A conference by novelist Emy Bloom on the LGBTQR+ novel will take place at 11:30 a.m. as well as an introduction to illustration with Laurent Koëss at 1:30 p.m. The day before, Saturday December 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 30 will take place exhibitions and conferences with “Voyages Célestes” by photographer Chantal Mailho (see box below), a presentation by the association of Plumes Indépendants d’Occitanie by Élisabet Guillot and, a literary prize ceremony, “Plumes Dorées”.

Élisabet, does not stop there and is active on a new bookish idea, exclusively focused on a car show published in June 2025 in Villesèquelande. Here again, a real rush occurred as soon as registrations were launched, fortunately repelling, once again, the bad omens slandering the imminent death of the book.