Le masque et la plume

Confinement, France, april 2020.

Le masque et la plume

The book market is taking a beating, for sure. But never fear, dear booksellers, this is just the calm before the storm. Now that confinees are feeling warm and safe, another virus is spreading, that of writing. All those who have always dreamt of putting pen to paper are finding themselves in ideal conditions. Containment, seclusion, complete social isolation, loss of sense of time, symptoms of autism : this is a writer’s life imposed on all. To your pens, citizens ! Strike your keyboards ! Let’s attack those memoirs, dare some introspection, give life to that amazing thriller novel whose ideas have been brewing for the last twenty years. Within a month, publishing houses can expect a tsunami of manuscripts. The confinement novel may well become a new literary genre.