Here’s a literary novelty that promises to be spicy: 10 women are taking up their pen these days to offer a naughty collective, by and for women, far, very far, from the usual pornographic clichés.
Magical nights, in bookstores on Wednesday, is an original idea from Laurie Dupont, who was able to convince – apparently without the slightest difficulty – women of all ages and from all “spectrums of possibilities” to write a fictional text (or not!) combining desire and pleasure. Notice to those interested, it is direct, although never vulgar, daring and obviously totally assumed. As a bonus, we hope, a bit inspiring.
“There are things that are true and others that are not true, but no one needs to know that,” laughs the verbose director, also director of cultural content and magazine society Elle Quebec And Vero, met at his offices. She also signs a rather titillating text thank you, about an evening in complete privacy… with herself. “It took a while before I told my parents,” she admits, still laughing. But otherwise, I’m not afraid of anything anymore. »
Give power back
This is precisely the goal here: to put an end to this misplaced taboo, and above all, to give power back to women over their own sexuality. “Women’s intimacy is not represented in fiction in general, and when it is, it is always in the gaze of men. I was fed up with that,” continues Laurie Dupont, explaining her approach, in doing so debunking the sacrosanct male gauze. “Most sex news collectives are run by men and often, well, I don’t relate to them that much. » Think: graphic details, often pornographic, with “nanny” girls who succumb to the yoke of a guy. Without beating around the bush, she bluntly suggested to her colleagues that they “take back their power”.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Laurie Dupont
What would make you want to read this book one-handed?
Laurie Dupont, director of the collective
It has the merit of being clear.
You should know that the latter, after a detour into sexology and a job as a bookseller, always dreamed of signing a book. Coincidence? At university, she even took a course with Mélodie Nelson (to whom we owe the autobiography Escort and who also signs a short story in the collection), to whom she devotes boundless admiration: “She seemed confident, without the yoke of a pimp weird, it had marked my imagination, remembers Laurie Dupont. I felt like being her! We agree mom, I would never have done that, but it was fantasized…” And it is this “assumed” side, therefore, that Laurie Dupont claims with this book, for her, her authors, and of course its readers!
Is it necessary to specify this? In this project, she surrounded herself only with women, from artistic direction to correction, including of course the authors. They sign archivaried texts, sometimes graphic, sometimes rather sensual, liberated and, as a bonus, always literary. “I am pleasantly surprised,” confirms Laurie Dupont, “it’s not what we expected, but yes, it’s literary. »
It must be said that she went looking for the right feathers, several of which have proven themselves (Mélodie Nelson, Valérie Chevalier, Rosalie Bonenfant, etc.) Others, notably Guylaine Guay, with an almost poetic text on the vulva, are real favorites. If the whole constitutes a beautiful naughty object, there is also a frank reflection and some questioning, implicit here and there. Special mention to the text by Laïma Abouraja Gérald (Urbania) who reflects out loud on this art of giving, but also of receiving (sometimes so complicated).
Note that no account even mentions assault. And that’s obviously intentional. “I wanted it to be the beauty of women’s sexuality, period,” says Laurie Dupont. Queer sexuality, in a group, alone, with a woman, a man, that the plurality be there, but it was super important for me that it was positive. » For good reason: we are here to proudly read with one hand, remember!
In bookstores September 13
Magical nights
KO Éditions
148 pages