Bibliotopia 2024 | Interview with Elisa Shua Dusapin and Geneviève Damas

"Family Relations: Silences and Secrets"
Moderated by Anne Pitteloud

Elisa Shua Dusapin, is a writer of internationally acclaimed novels and plays. Adapted for the stage and soon for the screen, "Winter in Sokcho" (2020) won her the Prix Robert Walser, the Prix Régine Desforges, and the National Book Award for Translated Literature. "The Pachinko Parlour" (2018, Swiss Literature Prize 2019) and "Vladivostok Circus" (2024) followed, all published by Daunt Books and translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins. "Le vieil incendie" (Zoe Editions, 2023, Prix Wepler-Fondation La Poste), Elisa’s latest novel, continues to explore the complexity of human relationships, through the characters of two sisters, torn between love, bitterness, and silence, unable to express their love.

Geneviève Damas is a Belgian novelist, actress, director, and playwright. Her first book, "Si tu passes la rivière" (Luce Wilquin, 2011), won the Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie. Other Gallimard titles include "Patricia" (2017), "Bluebird" (2019) and "Jacky" (2021). "Strange" (Grasset, 2023), an epistolary novel, tells of a young transgender woman revealing her new identity to her father. A luminous piece of writing that explores our bonds, our fears, and our inability to talk about emotions, expanding our definition of love.

Fondation Jan Michalski, Sunday 24 March 2024