In this “Absolutely Woman” universe, several female personalities had come to present their latest books. On this occasion, we met a young novelist, best known for her talents as a singer-songwriter, Alice Dona.
Nice-Première: You just published your first novel “Grandma Was Fifteen Once Too”. What inspired you to write this book?
Alice Dona: In talking with my granddaughter, who turned fifteen and is a bit older now, I got the feeling that she thought I had never been fifteen myself. When I asked her questions like, “How is school going? How are things with your boyfriends?” etc., I realized one day that there was a barrier. She would say, “No, I’m no longer with so-and-so.” And suddenly, she hits me with the killer line: “Yeah, anyway, you wouldn’t understand.” So, I told her: “No, I wouldn’t understand; I’ve never been fifteen.” That’s where the idea for the book started. I felt like she saw me only as the age I am now, never having been her age. I was born, I’m 60. Nothing happened before. I never made love for the first time, I never had boyfriends, I never secretly smoked… No, I was born with everything already neatly in place. So, I thought it was a nice starting point for a novel and then I told her, “You know, grandma was fifteen once too.” And I thought that made a good title and a starting point for a nice story.
N-P: What were you like at fifteen?
A.D.: I wasn’t quite the same as I am now (laughs). Mentally, we often feel like we haven’t really changed. But yes, I have! I think I was lucky to live my teenage years at a time that was quite carefree about what wasn’t happening outside, no wars, no stuff like that… The sixties were total lightness. There was no AIDS, no condoms. Nothing. Everything seemed quite light. I had a peaceful adolescence with events that seemed minor even to my parents. We had a relatively calm political environment, there weren’t all the little squabbles that exist today that people get into, there wasn’t the media hype about every little thing that happens with artists. We didn’t have the same concerns at all, we weren’t made aware in the same way since there was less media, just one TV channel, two radios. There was only one show for the young people, called “Salut les Copains” at 5 o’clock on Europe 1 and that was it, the rest was for parents and grandparents. It was completely different. Today, everyone has their own radio, everyone is in their little box, everyone is put into their compartment, me as well. Before, people were much more integrated into their parents and grandparents’ opinions. Now we are in an era of “full-on communication”, we keep creating new means of communication (internet, SMS, mobile phones, computers, MP3s…) Everything seems accessible and it’s ironically an era where there’s also little communication between generations. Everyone is put in a cage, which is quite unfortunate. All these new technologies bury each of us in our little thing. I feel like there are lots of little sects and I find that frustrating. Nor my mother nor my grandmother, I believe, ever asked themselves the questions we currently ask about youth… There was no problem, we didn’t worry about things. Now, we worry far too much about all sorts of little things.
N-P: Would you like to be 15 today?
A.D.: I find it much more difficult to be 15 or 20 in the era we live in. I wouldn’t want to be 15 or 20 now. Nowadays, young people are forced to carry burdens too soon, I find. We should let teenagers live their adolescence peacefully and not make them aware at 15 that they’re going to have a hard time finding work etc… Why think about that now, it will come eventually! How did we do it? How did our grandparents manage? They also went through it. Grandparents, they started working at 12, 13 years old, they were in the factory and they didn’t worry too much. It wasn’t serious, problems happen.
N-P: What advice would you give to our young internet users?
A.D.: You should enjoy yourselves. Take things lightly and don’t worry whether it’s the CPE or whatever else. I think: Is it really necessary to worry now? Will it change anything? I’m not sure. In any case, it will be the politicians who will solve our problems. To my granddaughter, when I see her, I say: “Live! Go for it! Enjoy that you’re at your mom’s, that you’re taken care of, that you’re supported by mom and don’t wonder what you’re going to do in a few years? You’ll see when the time comes. Then one day you’ll have children, then the real problems will start. Then you’ll start to have a real responsibility. Someone’s life, having a life in your hands, that’s important. From then on, you realize that the journey won’t be so easy, you do with it. You’ll manage, we always manage!”
N-P: Has the publication of this book improved communication between you and your granddaughter?
A.D.: She has already had a bunch of her friends read it. To write this book, I did a survey like a journalist. I surveyed about 20 kids aged 15, boys and girls. I gave each of them a questionnaire, about ten pages long. It was quite comprehensive about their hobbies, the singers they liked, their way of dressing, their relationship with their parents, their grandparents, etc… I did a sort of compilation of all that. Then, they read it and they told me that it was slightly caricatural of a fifteen-year-old girl. This book is written in two voices: there’s the little girl who talks as she would on the phone with her friend using verlan (slang). I think that yes, this book has improved communication between my granddaughter and me. In any case, I’ve sold a lot. Not necessarily in Cannes since it’s not really a book fair. We’ve exceeded our 25,000 books which is a great sale for a first novel. When I go to a book fair, I meet grandmothers or mothers who buy it for their granddaughter sometimes it’s the other way around, it’s the granddaughter who buys it for their grandmother. It definitely gives a desire to communicate. It is indeed perhaps easier to convey a message with a book, a song, or a movie. It’s the power of writing or of creation. I think if a grandmother or a mother makes the effort to give my book to her granddaughter and if she has the courage to read it because there’s a tedious aspect to reading a book, they will feel a bit concerned by the story, I think, and dialogue should be able to happen.
N-P: What role do you think a grandmother or a grandfather plays in a family?
A.D.: Grandparents are very important. They can be a significant mediating element in a family. When things don’t quite mesh well with the parents or there’s some sort of blockade with the parents, grandparents can be a good relay as they have the necessary detachment and direct connection with the daily life. Grandparents can be a nice relay.
N-P: What do you think of current television?
A.D.: It’s no worse than television before. I find that also we make too much of it. We’ve removed a part of the dream from our everyday with these shows where we absolutely want to show the behind-the-scenes. Last night, I saw a show, the new thing happening in the jungle: “Get me out of here, I’m a celebrity” That sort of thing, to me, I think nothing of it, I don’t watch it. The rest, I’m a bit more interested because I’m involved in music. Naturally, I watch Star Academy because my daughter is a teacher at Star Academy. I watch Nouvelle Star because I’m sensitive to singing, it’s my thing. I like watching people sing. But current television isn’t any worse than before. It’s not serious. Other things will come, they’ll pass. The only thing that’s unfortunate is that we remove a part of the dream, but the dream will return.
N-P: Today, you are present at this fair aimed at women, what do you think about the place of women in society today?
A.D.: There are always alas inequalities: equal work, equal pay, that issue still hasn’t been resolved and it’s unjust. Otherwise, the issue of gender equality, I’m not necessarily for it, I kind of like the place of the woman but it must be said that I come from an Italian family, not to say: the woman at home, the man at work and then at the café in the evening while she would do the cooking, no! I think she has a nice place now. She wants to move, to shake things up, to do things if she can manage to do them, that’s good. But it’s true that if a man and a woman have the same job and they don’t earn the same because they are not the same sex, we still have problems to solve on that side. There is one thing that I also find a bit unfortunate among teenagers: the kids are now afraid to step up to flirt with a girl. I find that a bit harsh. That means that it’s the woman who decides, well anyway she’s always decided in the end but maybe it was more covert at another time. Today boys, and it’s probably the fault of the previous generation, are afraid of women. They rarely make the first move or else, it is in such an awkward and chauvinist way. They feel obliged to shout in the street or say rudeness to get noticed. Maybe they are scared? I wonder what happened, I haven’t found the answer yet.
N-P: If I say “First”, what or who do you think of?
A.D.: The first in the class, the competition, the number one. I’ve never been a candidate to be first at something. The important thing is to stay in the ranking one way or another.
N-P: You know the French Riviera. Which place do you prefer?
A.D.: I prefer many places for multiple reasons but it’s always emotional ties. I have a house in the Var, so I would tell you that I prefer the Var but that’s not necessarily true. Because objectively in terms of pure scenery, I am madly in love with St Jean Cap Ferrat. That place is magnificent and magical. That’s for the beauty of the landscape. For the mood, it’s no longer the French Riviera. I would be more from Marseille because I find that there’s an atmosphere that you can’t find elsewhere. But I generally like the Mediterranean. The Issandres in the Var because I often went there, I grew up there during the holidays, I’m very attached to it because it’s my family home but it’s a bit of a mandatory rooting, I didn’t choose it. I like to have landmarks, old stuff but it can be from anywhere in France, as long as I have friends who live there, automatically I like the place. In this book, I sort of betrayed because the story takes place in Vendée, it’s something else, it’s more rustic, it’s a place that’s not showbiz. It’s my St-Tropez! Except that it has nothing to do with it! St Tropez, I can’t, I don’t like it. My son lives in Nice, I am also forced to love the Alpes-Maritimes since he gave me my grandson there. It’s always emotional and I admit that this region is not at all unpleasant.
Website: [https://www.alicedona.com](https://www.alicedona.com)
*Interview conducted by Audrey Bollaro with the collaboration of Christelle Granata*
