Every year, the Tarbes publishing house releases a collection of short stories.
The 2024 edition chose to celebrate the centenary of surrealism with “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”. “It was obvious for Arcane 17 (the name of the publishing house, but also that of a book by André Breton) to publish a collection around this literary movement,” explains Marie-Pierre Vieu-Martin, author and founder of Arcane 17 in Tarbes.
“Our novelty was to make 'Ceci n'est pas une pipe' a feminine and feminist collection. When we talk about surrealist authors, we often remember male authors. I wanted to do the opposite by asking for women writers from classic literature, crime fiction, journalism and even theater to come together for this exercise.”
So 10 authors (Eva Almassy, Sylvie Callet, Rosemonde Cathala, Cécilia Castelli, Sylvie Etche, Anouk Langaney, Clémence Mary, Michèle Pedinielli, Juliette Prados and Marie-Pierre Vieu-Martin) took up the challenge.
Each accepted for different reasons. For Rosemonde Cathala, it was a series of life coincidences and an attraction to André Breton's “L'Amour fou” that led her to participate.
For Sylvie Etche, it is an article on sentience (idea that animals have consciousness) published in La Dépêche. Surrealist inspirations are everywhere and can be found in this exquisite book.
Note that Rosemonde Cathala, Sylvie Etche and Marie-Pierre Vieu-Martin offer different meetings, readings and signings, such as at Celtic, at the Cantine des Halles and at the European Christmas market.
