He is the exceptional guest of the first Cultissime festival, this weekend in Angers. And he publishes his new book on Thursday October 3 Elsewhere at home (Belfond), which he presents as “a biographical journey to the heart of the United States”. The opportunity to ask Douglas Kennedy how he prepares to follow this event that is the US Presidential election. “With anxiety!” » he responds to 20 Minutes laughing. “And if I laugh, it’s not so much that it’s funny, it’s that it makes me terribly anxious!” I laugh to relieve my anxiety. »
Political cult fiction?
A few weeks before the election, the writer is spending this weekend relieving his zygomatic bones as guest of honor at the first Cultissime festival, in Anger. Transmitting the treasures of our literary heritage, breaking down barriers between genres, bringing generations together, (re) giving people the desire and pleasure of reading, these are the missions of this event which welcomes Alain Ayroles, Bernard Werber, Clémentine Beauvais, Mark Millar, Jean Van Hamme and… Douglas Kennedy who was asked: “Would Donald Trump and Kamala Harris make good characters in a fiction that could become cult?” »
“Donald Trump, this millionaire gangster who was so underestimated in 2016 and who won, it’s obvious. Kamala Harris, I don’t know. She’s not very well known yet, but at the same time, she has an interesting background that gives her real depth. »
Books and jazz
Between his column for La Tribune Sunday and the release of his new book Elsewhere at homenext Thursday, Douglas Kennedy obviously talks about the elections which make him anxious, but also about the America he loves, that of literature, road trips and jazz. “In the United States, like everywhere there are geniuses and morons, the damage we hear especially about the latter at the moment. »
What intrigue could he imagine behind the scenes of this election? “For this presidential election I don’t know, but politics fascinates me. I even recently made a science fiction novel out of it. This is how we will live (Belfond), where America finds itself cut in two following a Civil War for which responsibility falls to a successor to Trump as divisive as him. » This is how imagination can regain the advantage when reality tends to surpass fiction. “It’s true that fiction often exceeds reality at the moment. I understand that for a writer, this can be difficult to follow. » Unless you take inspiration from it, let yourself be infused by it like Douglas Kennedy does during each presidential election before coming back more dashing than ever with a new novel.