Travel Writer Profiles - Stephen Clarke
The writing industry is renowned for being incredibly difficult to break into, so some writers decide that the only way to get their work out there is by self publishing. Often this amounts to little more than a crate of books to give to your nearest and dearest, and the pride of seeing your work in print, but for one writer it was the beginning of a highly successful career.
Stephen Clarke’s novel A Year in The Merde was published in 2004 through his Red Garage Books website. He printed 200 copies along with a murder mystery and a book about teleportation. A Year in The Merde became popular in Paris through word of mouth and was reviewed by a French newspaper. Thanks to the novel’s runaway success, Clarke sold the rights to Transworld in the UK, Bloomsbury in the USA and Penguin in Canada. It was published in French under Nil Editions as God Save La France.
The novel’s name is a play on Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence and alludes to the amount of dog excrement the author witnessed on the streets of Paris. The book tells the story of Paul West, an Englishman who sets up home in Paris. He is under orders to set up an English-style tearoom by his boss, a rich businessman. Despite chaotic times and many misunderstandings, Paul meets Alexa and manages to fall in love.
Clarke followed up with a sequel, Merde Actually, in 2005, charting Paul’s further adventures, and a third instalment is due out later this year.
His continuing fascination with France led to his penning Talk to the Snail in 2006, which is a survivor’s guide to the French language and people.
Before becoming a publishing phenomenon thanks to the Merde books, Clarke was a comedy writer. He wrote sketches for BBC Radio 4 and material for a stand-up comedian as well as comic-book stories for the American cartoonist Gilbert Shelton. He worked in Glasgow as a bilingual lexicographer for HarperCollins before moving to Paris to work for a French press group. He has lived there for more than a decade.
If you’ve read the Merde books and want to see Paris for yourself, check FlightComparison.co.uk for the cheapest flights.
