New date, new place, new partners. For its 3rd edition, the Libourne Police Literature Festival – Flip for short – opens a new chapter in its short history. “Last year, we think we were a bit victims of the chosen period. In June, there are a lot of events, people leave as soon as the weather is nice… We already feel that November is a more favorable period,” explains Alexis Gaucher-Piola, one of the two pillars of La Lamproie bleue, the organizing association. We will meet on November 23 and 24, sheltered, in the cool autumn weather, in the lounges of the town hall.
Anouk Shutterberg and Alexis Laipsker are the godmothers and godfathers of this 2024 edition. The first is the author of “Jeu de Peaux”, currently being adapted for audiovisual production, and of “Bestial”, discovery prize of the Iris noir Brussels 2022 The second, a journalist at “Point”, is also a TV and radio host and a great poker specialist. “We wanted to pick up on his news, because one of his novels, “The Soul Eater”, is adapted for the cinema,” explains Xavier de La Verrie, another kingpin of the festival.
12 litigants, 12 thrillers
These Saturday and Sunday will be divided between the final of the moot court competition, the presentation of the Grand Prize and the BD prize, activities, round tables, conferences… With around thirty authors present. “The purpose of Flip is really to discover authors that people don’t know. Often, when you go to a festival, it’s not easy to choose. There, there are a whole bunch of meetings that allow you to refine your choice and find interest in what you are going to read,” emphasizes Xavier de La Verrie. Enough to start filling the Christmas basket.
The pleading competition is one of the highlights of Flip: 12 novels, 12 litigants (high school students, lawyers, reading enthusiasts, etc.) who had to be decided during four sessions held between October 31 and November 14 in court. Everyone chose a book and had to defend it in front of an audience and a jury. Or when literary criticism becomes an oratory art. “We ourselves are surprised by the success. We had to turn away around thirty people,” says Alexis Gaucher-Piola.
The Flip also accentuated his interest in comics. “From the start, we wanted to have as many authors of novels as of comics,” underlines Xavier de La Verrie, a fan of the genre. Hence the creation of a comic book prize awarded by around forty readers, in partnership with the media library. “We had quite a good response. » With, for this new opus of Flip, the spotlight on the Italian Piero Macola, as part of an exhibition dedicated to his latest comic strip, “Le Passeur de lagunes”. at Futuropolis.
