“We all have wounds that prevent us from living”

Paris Match. Is it important for you to be at the Festival Des Livres Des Artistes and to meet your readership?
Anthony Delon. Yes, it’s important to meet the public, to discuss with people who have read my book and to listen to what they have to say. It particularly touches me because I realize that in the end they were touched, they identified themselves and that, for me, is the greatest gift. As I say at the beginning of the book, this story is universal. We all have wounds that prevent us from living. I talk about it and I also give solutions. I think it could have been useful to a lot of people. Maybe that’s also why this book works so well.

Are you a big reader yourself?
No. I am a normal reader, lambda.

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My mother Nathalie read a lot

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Are there any books that have changed your life?
The books of my childhood marked me deeply: the novels of Jack London, the books of Marcel Pagnol. The books of my youth, almost the entire collection of Patrick Modiano. And then I branched out. I really like Norman Mailer (“The Executioner’s Song”). I read a lot of books of a philosophical nature, particularly Buddhist, such as the works of Thich Nhât Hanh, Matthieu Ricard or even The Tibetan Book of Life and Death by Songyal Rinpoche. Hermann Hesse was also very important to me. I am quite eclectic in my reading.

You’re not such a lambda reader (laughs)…
But you know why I say that? Because in fact, my mother Nathalie read a lot, my godfather Georges Beaume read a lot. We always have references.

The Festival Des Livres Des Artistes is organized by an association that fights against illiteracy. Is it important to you to fight for this cause?
Yes, it is very important that literature remains present in school curricula.

“Between Dogs and Wolves” is a bestseller. What is its genesis? Have you had this project for a long time?
Originally, it was not a book but a series. I had images in my head and besides it’s going to be a series since the rights were taken before I even wrote the book. I had written about fifteen Word pages that I had Dominique Besnehard, who is the producer of the 10 pour Cent series, read and took the rights from me and will develop this series with Mediawan. The Cherche Midi arrived parallel to this. At first it didn’t interest me. And then, after reflection, in consultation with my producers, I said to myself that it could be a good breeding ground for the scriptwriters for the adaptation of this fiction series. And so I don’t regret it because it allowed me to go much further in reflection, in introspection. And I understood things that I might not have understood if I had written the 50 or 70 pages of the narrative arches.

What are your projects ?
I wrote a series before that, which I would like to direct. I’m working on something right now, but I don’t know yet. I write, I write and then I will see. Will it be a screenplay or will it be a book? I do not know yet.

Can I ask you about your father, Alain Delon?
He is much better, thank you for him.