Before selling millions of books, Mélissa Da Costa was an ordinary communications manager. Until the days when she dared to self-publish and quickly got noticed by the public. Now published by Albin Michel, she looks back on her career and the class contempt she felt.
Mélissa Da Costa in an interview for “Mesdames Média”, she talks about the class contempt that exists in the Parisian literary world © Youtube
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Mélissa Da Costa is back in bookstores with her new novel Stand up (Albin Michel editions), changing the “feel good” register for a much darker subject. Everything is smiling for the one who has sold more than 2.7 million books and whose first novel of 2019, All the blue of the skya bestseller that continues to sell well, is currently being adapted into a series for TF1. Peacefully settled in a large house in Yvelines in the Ile-de-France region, this mother of two can be proud of her journey, even though nothing was easy. In her interview for the magazine Ladiesshe also talks about her arrival in the literary world, not necessarily easy since she was not, according to the adage, “well born”.
Maïtena Biraben says it straight away: her guest Mélissa Da Costa was not helped because she has three “faults”: she is young – 34 years old -, she is not from the inner circle – she grew up in the countryside in Ain, her father works in construction and her mother is a childminder – and she “succeeds masterfully“. Characteristics that did not work in her favor in the elitist world that is perhaps that of publishing in Paris. Mélissa Da Costa tries to be both diplomatic and sincere in describing her arrival: “I think that the literary world is a world that functions a little like among ourselves, a bit snobbish. And then there is something of the… I’m not going to go as far as the class contempt but there is a little something like that. There are many successful authors who have come from self-publishing, who have arrived there by our own means and to come from social classes which do not have the codes, the language. And so I think there’s a little bit of that at play too..”
Moreover, Mélissa Da Costa did not want to try to contact publishing houses, considering that she did not have the network or the contacts for that, as she explains in the interview in its entirety on the website of Ladies.
An analysis that earned him many congratulations in the comments of the post devoted to this extract from his interview for Mesdames.So much the better, things are changing and stop the elitist sides (in many other areas too) thank you for all your work“, writes one Internet user. “The trendy literary world has nothing but contempt for these successful authors, such as Virginie Grimaldi, Mélissa Da Costa, Aurélie Valognes…and so on. Yet their books are well written. Stirring. Moving. Questioning. What more could you ask for?” cries another.
Social origin, also a subject in Mélissa Da Costa’s novel
The question of social origin is at the heart of his latest novel. Stand Up. Her character, Léonore, who alternates as narrator with François, will save her life through writing. Her fate recalls that of Mélissa Da Costa, from a modest background, and in charge of communication who flourished moderately in this profession, without believing in her chances of being published one day.I wasn’t in a gloomy and depressive daily life.“, she insists on telling AFP. Having become a star with a well-stocked wallet, she wants to keep her head on her shoulders and assures that his success has not altered his lifestylenor his way of writing”“instinctively” adds the France Presse agency.
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Mélissa Da Costa at the 2023 Paris Book Festival at the Grand Palais Éphémère on April 23, 2023. © Lionel Urman / Panoramic / Bestimage
Exclusive – Author Mélissa Da Costa for her novel “La Doublure” published by Albin Michel – Marseille Book Festival 2022 on November 26, 2022. © Patrick Carpentier/Bestimage
Exclusive – Mélissa Da Costa – “Phantom Pains” – Literary meeting “The Writers’ Beach” in Arcachon on May 1, 2022. © Jean-Marc Lhomer/Bestimage
Mélissa Da Costa during the Paris Book Festival 2022 at the Grand Palais Ephémère on April 23, 2022. © Cédric Perrin / Bestimage
Melissa Da Costa at the 2023 Paris Book Festival at the Grand Palais Éphémère on April 23, 2023. © Lionel Urman / Panoramic / Bestimage
“Standing Up”, a book by Mélissa Da Costa published by Albin Michel
Exclusive – Author Mélissa Da Costa for her novel “La Doublure” published by Albin Michel – Marseille Book Festival 2022 on November 26, 2022. © Patrick Carpentier/Bestimage
Mélissa Da Costa – Personalities at the 40th Brive-la-Gaillarde Book Fair. November 5, 2022 © Jean-Marc Lhomer / Bestimage
Exclusive – Mélissa Da Costa – “Phantom Pains” – Literary meeting “The Writers’ Beach” in Arcachon on May 1, 2022. © Jean-Marc Lhomer/Bestimage
Mélissa Da Costa during the Paris Book Festival 2022 at the Grand Palais Ephémère on April 23, 2022. © Cédric Perrin / Bestimage
Mélissa Da Costa during the Paris Book Festival 2022 at the Grand Palais Ephémère on April 23, 2022. © Cédric Perrin / Bestimage
