Sylvain Tesson can count on the support of Rachida Dati. The Minister of Culture deplored on Saturday the “sectarianism” which sees supporters and opponents of the writer opposing each other as godfather of the Spring of Poets 2024.
“I was surprised that poets excluded other poets,” Rachida Dati told the press, interviewed during a visit to the Angoulême International Comics Festival. “That’s what struck me. I find that culture is the place where, normally, there is no sectarianism. It’s curious, sectarianism, among people who themselves say that they are for openness,” she added.
The management of the association criticized
Sylvain Tesson was targeted by an article published in Release on January 18, signed by authors such as Nancy Huston, Baptiste Beaulieu and Chloé Delaume, accusing him of “a reactionary ideology” and of being a “leading figure” of the “literary extreme right”. According to the minister, “Sylvain Tesson is a great writer. He has a beautiful pen. The French read it a lot. A large majority of French people read it. Why deprive yourself of it? »
The controversy led to the resignation on Friday of the artistic director of the association which supports this event, Sophie Nauleau. “It was his decision,” said Rachida Dati. Two days before this resignation, the daily The world had relayed testimonies from former or current employees of the association denouncing “traumatic management”. Asked if she was aware, the minister replied: “I looked. “It’s not new, it’s not from today,” without further clarification.