Jean d’Indy is the director of a unique title in the world of the press, created in 1980, The Sapper’s Candle and whose particularity is to only be released on February 29, i.e. leap years. Thursday February 29, 2024 is therefore marked by the release, only on newsstands, of the twelfth issue, without advertising, financed by the proceeds from the sale of the 120,000 copies sold in 2020. Il donates part of its income to the À Tire d’Aile association which deals with autism.
franceinfo: This is the 12th issue that you have published since 1980. Are we always a little excited at the time of release, especially when it’s only every four years?
John of Indy: Yes, we can’t miss it! If I lose my customers today, I don’t have tomorrow to make up for it. It is eextremely serious. There is plenty of fake news, but also in the press. The idea is really that people take a breath and see the news in a new light, once every four years.
The Sapper’s Candle works like a real newspaper. There are the eco, politics, culture sections, but it’s true that it’s a bit sarcastic, there are puns. How do you define it?
It’s a real newspaper. It’s even a daily newspaper because my definition of a daily newspaper is that it’s a newspaper dated today. Mine is dated February 29. It’s not my fault if the Earth rotates at that speed and there is a February 29 every four years, I can’t do anything about it.
“The editorial line is clearly humor, making fun of recent news or strong news from four years, three years, two years ago, or major social issues.”
But does that mean that for four years, you gradually note the subjects that could potentially be found in the next issue?
Yes, I have a shoebox in my office. I take notes, I cut out articles, I put it all in a big box and then at the end, with my friends, we choose. That’s what the job of editor-in-chief is. The front page title of this latest issue, cThis is very good news, “we are all going to become intelligent”, without studying, without going to any trouble. Now, with AI, artificial intelligence, we’re going to press a button and we’re going to look super smart.
You talked about your friends who write for The Sapper’s Candle. Are they journalists?
So, no, because I have a big fault, which is that I don’t pay my journalists. They are just volunteers, friends. We don’t have an office, a newsroom, etc. We go to the bistro, I shower them with legal products, but it stimulates the neurons. We are delirious and the product of our delirium is in this newspaper.
It’s quite unbearable what you’re doing because you’re starting a serial in this issue. And we’ll only have the sequel in four years…
I recommend that you do not miss the one for 2028. Reserve it now at your newsagents.
“We also did crosswords at the time and it really annoyed readers because when they stumbled on a word, you had to be very patient to find the solution.”
In this issue, we didn’t do it, there are no crosswords, because we got yelled at, plus we forgot, so we had to wait eight years.
How was this newspaper born?
It was a group of friends from the generation before, in 1980, who wanted to pull off a prank. They never thought it would work. They published an eight-page black and white with laughs. Then, to push the hoax to its conclusion, they put it on newsstands. And NMPP, who were the distributor at the time, called saying they had sold 30,000 copies and they needed to make more. As you don’t restart a printing press like that, they replied: “We are not going to reprint issue 1, but we promise you that we will do an issue 2, then a number 3, then a number 4, etc.. They were looking for an exceptional date for an exceptional newspaper. The only exceptional date on the calendar is obviously this one.
And why is it called The Sapper’s Candle ?
Last century, there was a comic strip character called Le Sapeur Camember, written by a very funny guy called Colomb and he took Christophe as his pseudonym. And this comic book character is Sapeur Camember who in the story was born on February 29 and therefore blows out his candle that day.
It is an advertising-free newspaper. Does that mean that the money you raise is used to produce the next issue?
Without advertising, we are completely independent, which is very important to me. We start by putting aside the money for the sustainability of the title, therefore for 2028. And then, the rest, we give it to a wonderful association, in Tire d’Aile, which is an association which deals with autism and who manages a house in La Châtre in Indre, the House of Birds. It’s the only serious news in the newspaper, but at least it serves a good purpose.
There are many kiosquiers who support you and who highlight The Sapper’s Candle because you donate part of the profits to this association, do they like that as an approach?
I think they like it. They also like it because we absolutely want them to be the only ones to sell our newspaper.
“We don’t want to be on the Internet, we don’t want to be digital.”
Newsagents are part of the planning of the territory, of the villages and we care a lot about them. Go to your newsagents, they need to have customers, they need support!
Do you know if the concept of The Sapper’s Candle exists elsewhere in the world?
I receive emails from people who tell me: “It’s a press UFO on the entire planet“, I am very proud and others who tell me: “Maybe you could translate it“. But it’s impossible. You don’t translate a pun, a play on words and then we’re talking about French humor which has nothing to do with English humor. I think we’re the only ones on the entire planet!