Sunday Scribbles #11
Meet the women behind Revue Version Originale
Photo credit: Thibaut Cessieux
August is Women In Translation month. (To be honest, this is our vibe for most of the year!) So, for the podcast, I’m going to be publishing two translation-related conversations. The first is with Jaqui and María Laura, who you may already know from The Immigrant Book Club. They’re also the co-founders of Revue Version Originale, which is currently running a crowdfunding campaign.
This inclusive and intersectional literary magazine will be printed in French and English, and is destined for the multilingual reader. It will assemble essays, short stories, illustrations, poems, book reviews, photography, and more, and present them in their original language. The aim is to print three editions per calendar year, the first of which is coming this autumn.
They took some time out of their busy schedule to speak to me about the project in more detail. How Revue VO came to be, their inspirations and where the crowdfunding money will go exactly. They also share a sneak peek of what you can expect from the first issue. Think of the magazine as a safe space for readers.
Projects like this excite me. Just recently, I was speaking to a friend about this current wave of new feminist activity. From bookshops such as Librairie Majo and the soon-to-be-reopened Violette & Co., as well as book events, there is hope, joy and hard work to be found in these projects that we can—and should—throw our support behind.
This friend was, in fact, Charlotte, who spoke to writer and journalist Clare Touzard for The FBC Paris podcast. They spent some time discussing “la presse féminine” or women’s magazines and the power that luxury brands have over mainstream media in general. Independent publications such as Revue Version Originale, Gaze and La Déferlante are doing the work as we say when it comes to creating an ad-free media.
Listen to the podcast episode now or save it for later.
Book Club
Photo credit: Ariane Lebon
For September’s book club, we will be reading Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin. The French translation—les âmes errantes—by Carine Chichereau will be available on August 23rd. Place an order with your local bookshop!
Raised between Paris and New York, Cecile is now based in London. Wandering Souls is her debut novel, which follows three siblings who leave Vietnam after the war and find themselves in Thatcher’s Britain. It is partly inspired by her maternal family’s history. If historical fiction is your thing, you’ll definitely want to read this one and meet Cecile at book club.
Sign up to the book club session here (there’s also a waitlist available).
Get to know Cecile—in just five minutes!
Currently…
Reading: While waiting for Revue Version Originale to come out (!) I’ve been getting to know Gaze Magazine. In their own words, they’re a literary magazine that celebrates the female gaze. Issue 6 had the theme of Bimbo and I have issue 2 ready to go.
I’m (finally) reading more in French. Hommes was recommended to me by Charlotte. I’ve finished the book but I’m still processing it. The premise is as follows: our female protagonist, in her late forties, sees an ex lover on the news. He is wanted for sexual violence and is on the run. I was expecting it to be more of a thriller but in fact it is a meditation on men, their behaviour, sexual desire, and the rules of femininity. I very much enjoyed it.
I (naively) went into Les Mots à la bouche, just to have a look. I came away with Mrs. S, which was a coup de coeur for the booksellers. It’s a debut novel, by the non-binary writer K. Patrick. Here’s the blurb:
In an elite English boarding school where the girls kiss the marble statue of the famous dead author who used to walk the halls, a butch antipodean outsider arrives to take up the antiquated role of “matron.” Within this landscape of immense privilege, where difference is met with hostility, the matron finds herself unsure of her role, her accent and her body.
That is until she meets Mrs. S, the headmaster’s wife, a woman who is her polar opposite—an assured, authoritative paragon of femininity. Over the course of a long, restless summer, their unspoken yearning blooms into an illicit affair of electric intensity. But, as the summer fades, a choice must be made.
Seductive, stylish, and disarmingly wry, K Patrick’s bold and revelatory debut smolders with the heat of summer as it explores the queer experience and the force of forbidden love.
I’m 90 pages in. More thoughts to come, but for now, a beautiful book for summer.
Listening to: Season four of the Going Through It podcast. While reflecting on whether or not to have children herself, American writer, podcaster and educator Ashley C Ford talks to a wide variety of people about how they came to a final decision. This episode really spoke to me. Thanks to Erin, forever friend of the book club, for putting me onto this.
Doing: home improvements. It’s been five years this month that I became a property owner with Jon. Each summer, we like to take a step back and see what we’d like to improve or refresh. Cleaning the terrace, buying new curtains for the living room, and clearing out the cellar are all underway.
This year, there’s extra motivation. We’re preparing to welcome a Golden Retriever puppy into our lives! She has been born. She should be coming home with us early October. We are watching training videos. We are thinking of names. We are wondering how Oscar will handle this new presence—we’re going to carry out the introduction phase with much patience and care.
I think it’s time to sign-off now. Coffee calls! Lou xx
A note on The FBC Paris
If you’re new here, welcome! The FBC Paris is a passion project. Read our mission statement.
Follow us on Instagram: this is where you can find out everything about our monthly book clubs.
Listen to the podcast: I chat to authors, translators, friends of the book club, and booksellers.
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