La Journée du Livre in Sablet

Looking back through a book I have on the History of Sablet, I noticed an old picture of the Journée du Livres.  It is in black and white, taken in 1988 and shows the Place de l'Aire de la Croix, with lots of people dressed for the warm summer weather milling around talking, authors sitting in their booths  under the overhangs of the buildings that bordered the Place, talking to interested readers.

The Journée du Livres was one of the first things I knew about Sablet.  Held every year,  on the third weekend in July, the whole village dresses itself up to welcome what has now turned into over one hundred authors each year,  and greet thousands of visitors to our village over that weekend. 


The "parachutage" of authors from far and wide to the Sablet Journee du Livre by Jean Marcellin

As Isle sur la Sorgue has become synonymus with Antiques, Sablet is very well known for its Journee du Livre, welcoming  all the  authors who attend this  celebration of literature.  Of books on French Literature,  Foreign Literature, Cuisine,  Wine, Regional History, Cartoon books, Children’s books and Poetry collections.


Literary enthusiasts and authors enjoy discussion time in the shade of a tent set up for the event

We couldn’t wait  to attend our first Journée du Livres, and thoroughly enjoyed  all the preparations that led up to the weekend.  That was only three years ago and even in that short space of time, the Journée has grown and developed into so much more than it started out to be.  Firstly, being in one of the Cote du Rhone Appelation villages, it was only natural to provide  wine tasting hosted by the Vignerons of Sablet, both in the Place de l'Aire de la Croix and also at La Gravillas, Cave Coopertive.  Each year the Vignerons of Sablet produce a “Cuvée  Spéciale Journée du Livre”.  Then of course,there is the cuisine of Provence - La cuisine du soleil -  so -  last year, a guest chef held cooking demonstrations in the Place de l'Aire de la Croix.  His demonstration  and samples were a huge hit.  This year, the culinary segment was expanded, with an emphasis on  using local produce as well as the pairing of foods with locally produced wines.


A session on pairing foods and wines conducted by one of our local chefs


The Master of Ceremonies of one of the food and wine sessions




Can you imagine anything better than having a great lunch of Provencal food, accompanied by a glass of your favorite Sablet wine - all followed by a relaxing couple of hours reading a great book???

                
The real Jean Marcellin and the caricature "St. Marcellin"
    

One of the highlights of last year’s  Journée  was  a striking theme beautifully illustrated by  Jean Marcellin,  a celebrated cartoonist, which added great deal of fun to the scene.  M.  Marcellin  had designed posters for the Journée (signed copies of which were available for purchase).   He spared no time or thought when personalizing the messages he added to anyone who purchased one of his prints or illustrated books,  and wished him to sign it.  Even though he spent several minutes on each one, it was a pleasure to watch him work as one waited for their turn. The posters showed authors from all over France and other parts of the world parachuting into Sablet for the “Journée” and a fictional character “St Marcellin” packing his bags and heading for our village for La Journee.  I just couldn't resist buying two posters and two of his books on a pictorical history of Fairs and Markets in Provence - one for Maison des Pelerins and one for La Baume des Pelerins.

I have included a number of pictures of this year’s “Journée” – I hope you will enjoy some of the scenes .
With many, many thanks for all our neighbors in Sablet who work very hard to make our Journee du Livre
the success it is.



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