On November 17th, 2022, Jan Carson visited the Hall du Livre in Nancy for a meeting with Philippe Claudel (sponsor of the Ariel residency), Sabine Wespieser (publisher) and Dominique Goy-Blanquet (translator).
The event began with the story of the meeting between Jan Carson and her publisher Sabine Wespieser. It was during an evening in an embassy after a literary festival that, after a long conversation, the two women discovered many similarities in each other, and this is how their collaboration began. Jan Carson then read part of a chapter of "The Fire Starters", a chapter she read when she met the woman who became her editor.
Then, Philippe Claudel intervened by asking Jan questions and very quickly, we understood the common points which link the two authors in their writings. They both mix fiction and reality by relying on current events.
Next, the Northern Irish writer explained her creative process: it consists in writing collections of short stories in order to build a novel with many characters. Indeed, for the author, a novel that spotlights only one character can quickly become boring; that's why Jan prefers to diversify the stories within the same novel. An author such as Steinbeck is very much appreciated by Jan Carson because of the large number of characters appearing in his books. Jan Carson also shared her admiration for Latin American literature because it blends both reality and fantasy. The author referred in particular to the writings of Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Isabel Allende.
The meeting ended with a very interesting question. Is it possible to confront the events of the present to write a book? According to Jan Carson, it is possible to proceed that way, but it can quickly become annoying. She takes as an example Scottish writer Alice Smith and her 4 books on Brexit written in two years. Jan explains that on the second reading, she found the books less interesting and relatively rushed in their writing, something she had not noticed on her first reading.
Thus, this meeting was very interesting and enriching since, in addition to learning more about the Northern Irish author, the event also highlighted various jobs related to the world of literature such as publisher or translator.
Adélaïde Hoffsess et Lisa Esposito, M1 LEA LECSI
