Today, award-winning French journalist, filmmaker, photographer, and sound artist Carole Cassier and I recorded the last words of Lucy, go see. Sound engineering lies ahead and then it will be ready for those who would like to listen to me tell the story. I like to imagine traveling with readers, hanging out on the beach with you, sitting in your homes near the fire, or in the kitchen as you cook, or walking with you, perhaps. I think audiobooks are even more intimate than physical books when the author narrates. A second printing has resulted from the reading as I found typos here and there and corrected them. It was difficult and delightful to sit next to Carole each day these last couple of months, reading into the microphone and telling her the story. We paused at times to take breaths, laugh, cry, scream, sing, make jokes in French. I wonder how many times I said, “That was the most difficult part for me to read.” One of many delights was hearing Carole say, “Your story inspires me. I never thought of sculpting a life before.”
We met at DELUXE IOWA soon after I arrived in Iowa City. She was a table away editing a film on her laptop while I was preparing the first draft of Lucy, come home. for printing. Intrigued by her and listening to her speak French to Cecilia, Deluxe Counterperson Extraordinaire, I struck up conversation one day and learned Carole had come to Iowa City with her wife, writer Anna Polonyi, who days ago deposed her MFA thesis in the library archives. There is much to celebrate these days. Tonight we will celebrate the opening of Carole’s documentary, “THE QUIET REBEL”, which recently garnered The Best European Documentary of 2019.
Many thanks to PATV Sound Studios of Iowa City and deep thanks and congratulations to Carole Cassier!
Marianne Maili 