Par
Nicolas Lepigeon
Published on
Nov 5, 2024 at 9:33 a.m.
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“I really liked this first novel. The story is beautiful, sweet and tender, a look at our delicate and sensitive society. » The nice compliment comes from a Valognese bookseller, Nathalie Fraboulet, who recently received François-Xavier Cottin for a signing session. And sums up the first feedback since the book was published The Mandela Gardenspublished by Fayard.
A novel in which the author has inserted a good part of truth based on his career and his experience as a French teacher, for 16 years, in several establishments throughout Normandy.
The nature club, a refuge in danger…
The story: Matthieu, Julien and Marie are teachers at Allende College, all three convinced of their mission to help adolescents whose future prospects are permanently hampered. Faced with increasingly degraded working conditions, there is a refuge: the nature club, an island of greenery in the ocean of concrete which extends from the buildings to the ring road. There, all the students come together and learn to see the world differently. So, when Julien discovers by chance that the green spaces are going to be destroyed, all hell breaks loose…
Bio express
François-Xavier Cottin was born in Carentan 41 years ago, and grew up in Denneville. He studied at the Etenclin college in La Haye-du-Puits then in 9th grade at the Barbey-d’Aurevilly college in Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, before continuing with the Henri-Cornat high school in Valognes “where I spent four years because I felt good there…”, he jokes. With his Bac ES in hand in 2001, he joined the hypokhâgne-khâgne literary prep at the Millet high school in Cherbourg. Then, direction Rennes for a degree in modern literature, then Caen for preparation for the Capes (Certificate of aptitude for teaching secondary education). While he is also a supervisor… for the Millet prep courses (!), the second attempt is the right one to obtain the diploma and he becomes a teacher in September 2006. He teaches French in a college in L’Aigle (Orne ) while completing his training in Caen one day a week. He then became a substitute in establishments in Upper Normandy – “which allowed me to escape the Paris region” – before returning to L’Aigle, at the Lycée Napoléon. He was then assigned for seven years to the REP (priority education network) college in Lisieux. “I was subsequently able to move closer to Caen by being transferred to the Mandela college in Hérouville-Saint-Clair – where I still live today – until my resignation in mid-2022. Father of two children, he today works as a coordinator at Greta… in the buildings of his former Mandela college!
Son of a bookseller – notably at Plein Ciel in Cherbourg and at Guillaume in Caen – François-Xavier Cottin has always written: poems, articles (as corresponding to La Presse de la Manche et West France Cherbourg), novels in progress… and even song lyrics for his friends and for his youth group Orkidhion, where he excelled on bass. “I need to write. This novel takes its origins from the diary that I wrote during the last six months of my work as a teacher, it made me feel good, he confides. I was sending these texts to relatives, and I was told that I should make a book of them. »
A work which will therefore take the form of a novel. A teacher from 2006 to 2022, suffice to say that FX, as his friends call him, met some inspiring people and experienced some juicy anecdotes! “My story starts with a teacher who is not doing well, against the backdrop of a battle to save the gardens on the grounds of Mandela College. A true story, the Department of Calvados wanted to build a road leading to a Sports Centre. An economic and ecological aberration, bitumen in the middle of plants and trees to the delight of the kids and the nature club… and knowing that an alternative – at the budget calculated by my colleague – existed by extending a car park. »
The new MP cancels the project!
Mobilization, petition bringing together hundreds of signatures: the departmental council did not want to know anything. “The last trip of the socialist candidate for the 2022 legislative elections, Arthur Delaporte, took place here. He promised that if he was elected, he would cancel this project… he won and kept his word! »
But 2022 is also synonymous with growing unease for François-Xavier Cottin. “I liked my job, but I didn’t feel well, so I was accepted into the rectorate. After explaining my situation, I was told: I’ll give you the HR card (human resources manager) to leave… However, I had not planned to resign at that time! »
The resignation is recorded in May 2022 and effective in August, “I even worked on the pre-entry…”. Why stop a job you love? “It’s a mixture of several things: not well paid in relation to all the work done, a split schedule… and above all the institutional mistreatment on the part of the Ministry of National Education – regardless of the government in place – towards its employees. I loved teaching, but I kept getting conflicting instructions. It’s thanks to the students that I lasted so long, but on the other hand: the lack of resources, the incessant program changes, the lack of recognition…” The pandemic and the health crisis have not helped.
Two and a half years of work on the novel
After his resignation, the Cotentinais person did different jobs, including proofreading manuscripts for publishing houses. And so he worked on his novel for two and a half years, published by Fayard.
“It was really demanding, I also describe the different stages on my Instagram account. When I got my hands on it, I was really moved. Publishing a novel was my life’s dream. I’m happy because it is available everywhere in France, and even in Switzerland, Portugal… I’m taking a breather today, I’m promoting it (Editor’s note: see you at the Pieux Book Fair in March 2025), but I intend to continue on this path. »
“Les Jardins de Mandela” was published by Fayard, 272 pages, €20.50. To contact the author: Instagram account “francois.xavier.cottin”.
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