“I carry Aveyron within me”, the confessions of the writer Manu Causse

“I didn’t know that writing was a profession. » Before making a living from his writing, and his translations, Manu Causse, born in the early 1970s in the Paris region but who grew up near Bozouls, where he arrived at the age of two, – “My parents , civil servants, wanted to settle in the South” – was a French teacher for a long time.

As a schoolboy in Espalion, it was in this small town that he discovered rugby – he also played in Auch and still plays leisurely in Toulouse – and where he set up his first group called “Disciplinary Council”. as a provocation for the schoolboy he was then. “We composed our rebellious rock pieces, between Renaud and Telephone,” he remembers.

After the literary baccalaureate at the Foch high school in Rodez, he joined the Saint-Sernin prep school in Toulouse and continued at the Mirail university where he obtained a master's degree in comparative literature. Capes in his pocket, he began teaching in Haute-Saône before returning to his beloved South-West, precisely in Gers where he spent around ten years, between Auch, Lectoure and Vic-Fezensac. A department whose green reliefs are reminiscent of Aveyron. “I really like being outside, surrounded by nature,” admits the fifty-year-old who practices climbing, hiking and even skiing. It’s a very safe environment for me. »

It was during this period that he published his first book, a collection of short stories nicely named “Small guide to transport for the thirty-year-old in love”. We are in 2005 and Manu Causse takes the plunge. “I realized that what I really wanted to do was write,” he says. And see if I could make a living from my writing. »

“The children’s novel, a universe to explore”

The Aveyronnais, who has just settled in Toulouse, then becomes available for National Education. “I also began to translate” texts from English into French, under the name Emmanuel Plisson. But it is with children's literature that his career will take on another dimension. “It was a children's editor who told me that she really liked what I wrote. There was a whole literary universe to explore. And I found an audience, support,” recalls the author who is invited by teachers to schools to introduce people to his profession.

And his world. “The worst concert in the history of rock”, released in 2014, is his first work aimed at this audience he loves. “The story of a pianist from Creuse brought to play with a rock group,” explains Bozoulais, himself a musician. “I play bass in a group of old people,” he smiles, “the Top of the Friends, old rugby friends. »

At the same time, he continues to publish adult novels, including “La 2 CV verte” (2016) and “Oublier mon père” (2018) whose action takes place between Saint-Geniez and Espalion. Stories about the father-son relationship.

Teen sexuality

“When you write for adults, you ask yourself fewer questions than for children’s novels,” he seems to regret. And it is precisely through a children's novel, “Bien trop petit”, published in 2022 by Thierry Magnier, that Manu Causse, despite himself, will make people talk about his work (read elsewhere). In this same collection, L'Ardeur, the author had already published “Le point sublime”, in 2020. Two novels which address the sexuality of adolescents, a sensitive but essential subject, for the author. “If you don’t talk to young people about sexuality, who will talk about it? What will be said? », he asks.

The Aveyronnais recently participated in a collective work – “Toulouse noir” (Asphalte) – with other Toulouse writers including Benoît Séverac and Pascal Dessaint. And while his last two works have just been released, “Alfadog” (Oxymore), illustrated by Fabrizio Petrossi, and “Nougues et les vins” (Gründ), drawn by Adrienne Barman, he is today working on a scenario around the winegrowers' revolt in 1907, while continuing his translations and developing ideas for children's novels, an exercise close to his heart.

And as soon as his numerous activities leave him free time, it is to Aveyron – his mother lives in Bozouls – that he returns. “I need to talk to nature,” he admits. This is home, the place that fills me. This country of childhood that I carry within me. »