On November 23, the very first Christian literary fair took place in Paris, organized by the 7ici and CLC bookstores. For one Saturday afternoon, twenty-two Christian authors gathered for discussion and signing with their readers.
The objective: dialogue
Recently published by Première Part Editions, worship leader and composer Sébastien Corn was also there to present his first book, Infinitely big. “It’s a somewhat autobiographical book and I explain the meaning of the songs that I wrote,” he explains to Christianity Today. At the end of the day, Sébastien Corn even treated the audience to a concert to close the event.
Christelle Poujol, director of the Protestant bookstore 7ici, seems delighted with the organization of this event: “We wanted to allow dialogue and meeting on different subjects, the objective being to encourage people to have a more nuanced reading of the world that “A+B=C”.”
Interest the public on a diversity of subjects…
By walking around the authors’ tables, we were able to find books that tackle very diverse themes. Jean-Luc Gadreau (photo)journalist at France Culture, presented his latest publication, At the table with the Bible (ed. Bibli’O), a cookbook (reviewed last month in our pages).
Further, Eric Denimal, former pastor and specialist in biblical popularization, presented the now cult book The Bible for Dummies(First edition) has already sold more than 180,000 copies since its publication in 2004. “It is one of the best sellers in the collection at First Editions,” reveals the author. “People buy it as a gift, as an evangelistic treatise.”
A few stands allowed you to discover children’s books, a godsend for Christmas shopping! The public also had the opportunity to ask Pastor Chriss Campion questions about his testimony book Son of the fairground king (ed. Part One).
…Without forgetting to disturb a little
The most divisive social issues in the evangelical world have not been avoided: Valérie Duval-Poujol, theologian, presented her work with the provocative title: Is the Bible sexist? (ed. Empreinte). Likewise, two authors addressed the theme of domestic violence in evangelical communities: Joëlle Sutter-Razanajhary with An invitation to dance. The marital metaphor in the Bible (ed. Olivétan) and Murielle According with Domestic violence in evangelical churches in France (ed. l’Harmattan). Christelle Poujol makes no secret of it: “It’s an activist event,” she says, smiling.
Christianity Today
