Yves Grevet

Yves Grevet (* 1961 in Paris ) is a French author of books for young people. The three volumes of his Méto trilogy have so far been published in German translation . The first part, Méto - Das Haus (2012), was nominated for the German Youth Literature Prize 2013 and was described by the German-language feature pages as “gloomy dystopia” (Deutschlandradio Kultur) and “in a class of its own” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).

life and work

Grevet grew up in Vitry-sur-Seine . After completing his studies, Grevet went to Ankara for two years . Then he worked as a teacher in France . He is married and has three sons. To date, Yves Grevet has published twelve books, including the dystopian Méto trilogy, consisting of Méto - La maison (2008), Méto - L'île (2009) and Méto - Le monde (2010). The dystopian Méto trilogy is also available in German translation by Stephanie Sing with Méto - Das Haus (2012), Méto - Die Insel (2012) and Méto - Die Welt (2013). The trilogy has so far been translated into eight languages, including German, Italian and Dutch. About the Méto range , Grevet says:

“ Méto , that's three or four years of my life. It's three books, but it's more of a big one divided into three parts. It came from a dream. I woke up one night and had the idea in my head - admittedly a strange idea. I dreamed of a dorm and the creak of a bed woke me up. The child had grown too big and had to leave the dormitory. This idea stayed in the corner of my notebook for several years. Then I picked it up again. It was only the thin thread of a story, and now it's 800 pages. "

- Yves Grevet : Interview with Martina Bittermann, NDR Info

In 2013 he was a member of the jury for the award The Extraordinary Book of the children and youth program of the Berlin International Literature Festival .

Press review

Méto - The House (2012)

“The 'system of submission', against which the self-proclaimed 'resisters' revolt with armed force, bears no face for Yves Grevet - just like the contourless surface of global capitalism, against which people in Europe and the USA are currently storming, even though they are Have warm, clean beds and eat until full. In this sense, one would have to put the youth book Méto in a row with Stéphane Hessel's polemic Outrage! or the anonymous pamphlet The Coming Uprising , also from France . You don't have to be an adult to understand that resistance is worthwhile. "

- Kolja Mensing : Black Education , on: Deutschlandradio Kultur from 11.06.2012

"How in Méto - in the translation by Stephanie Singh - the tension grows page by page, without any fanfare, only through the successive build-up of inner drama, that's just in a class of its own."

- Siggi Seuss : Caught in the Tower - The first volume of Yves Grevet's bestseller trilogy "Méto" , in: Süddeutsche Zeitung from 04/04/2012

“Systematically injured childhoods and cruel practices of selecting adolescents are not uncommon in the dystopian literature currently on the market. In contrast to the majority of these titles, the novel by Yves Grevet does not aim at an emotional surprise for the reader. Rather, through the sober, emotionless language, he offers opportunities for distancing himself. Because the text does without cheap identification offers, the narrated world seems all the more strange. The mostly male pupils of a totalitarian educational institution are robbed of their individuality and kept artificially stupid. So it is in the logic of the narrative that the language is not only sober and emotionless, but also seems a little awkward with its limited vocabulary and simple, paratactic sentence structures. The story is like a logical experimental arrangement, the construction is more important than the painting of cruel details and the fascination lies less in the plot than in the cosmos that the novel creates. The house is the first part of a trilogy that originally appeared in a single volume. "

- Jury of the German Youth Literature Prize : Méto - Das Haus , at: www.djlp.jugendliteratur.org

“The fascinating thing about Grevet's novel is not the plot, but the world that the author creates down to the last detail. We not only ask ourselves the fundamental question “How do we want to live?”, But especially in adolescence: ourselves, and with it we question the order that we are just beginning to recognize. Méto rebels against a system that is concerned with his physical well-being, but at the same time subdues him through targeted repression and makes him submissive. [...] Das Haus , the first part of a trilogy, can be read as a mixture of Scorsese's FBI horror fairy tale Shutter Island and Kazuo Ishiguro's depressing clone novella Never let me go . In addition, Méto shows the dangers of totalitarian thinking without an index finger, but with added educational value: the oppressive presentation leaves the reader pensive. "

- Johanna Roth : When the oppressed awaken , in: FAZ , from May 3rd, 2013

“ Méto plays sometime in the future. It is an anti-utopia that Yves Grevet developed there. His world is ominously dark and forbidding. The language of the book: hypothermic and unemotional. And yet you can't stop reading. "

- Martina Bittermann : Méto - Das Haus , on: NDR Info

Méto - The World (2013)

“The guys around the title hero act like whole guys, as men of honor, leaders who take care of their 'men' and want to create a better future for everyone. In doing so, however, they act on the same terrible principle as the adult rulers: The end justifies even the most terrible means. So this last part also seems rather oppressive. It is by no means as hopeful as the final scenario would suggest. "

- Maren Partzsch : A means to an end , in: Eselsohr No. 8/2013, p. 26

bibliography

Original edition in French	German-language first edition	Remarks
2004: Mon premier rôle , Yves Grevet (text), Marie Flusin (illustration), Nathan (Paris), ISBN 9782092826379		not published in German translation
2005: Comme les cinq doigts du pied , Yves Grevet (text), Gwen Keraval (illustration), Nathan Jeunesse (Paris), ISBN 9782092504789		not published in German translation
2006: C'était mon oncle! , Yves Grevet (text), Syros jeunesse (Paris), ISBN 978-2748505245		not published in German translation
2007: Jacquot et le grand-père indigne , Yves Grevet (text), Syros (Paris), ISBN 978-2748506044		not published in German translation
2008: Méto - La maison , Yves Grevet (text), Syros (Paris), ISBN 978-2748506884	2012: Méto - Das Haus , Stephanie Singh (translation from French), Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (Munich), ISBN 978-3423625142
2009: Méto - L'île , text: Yves Grevet, Syros (Paris), ISBN 978-2748507867	2012: Méto - Die Insel , Stephanie Singh (translation from French), Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (Munich), ISBN 978-3423625159
2010: Méto - Le monde , Yves Grevet (text), Syros (Paris), ISBN 978-2748508918	2013: Méto - Die Welt , Stephanie Singh (translation from French), Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (Munich), ISBN 978-3423625166
2010: La fille du 995.36 , Yves Grevet (text), Guillaume Ospital (illustration), Bayard (Paris)		published in the journal Je bouquine , No. 321, November 2010 not published in German translation
2011: Seuls dans la ville entre 9 h et 10:30 , Yves Grevet (text), Syros (Paris), ISBN 978-2748510935		not published in German translation
2012: L'école est finie , Yves Grevet (text), Syros (Paris), ISBN 978-2748511871		not published in German translation
2012: Nox - Ici-bas , Yves Grevet (text), Syros (Paris), ISBN 978-2748512892	2015: NOX. Below , Stephanie Singh (translation from French), Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (Munich), ISBN 978-3423650120
2013: Nox - Ailleurs , Yves Grevet (text), Syros (Paris), ISBN 978-2748513417	2015: NOX. Elswo , Stephanie Singh (translation from French), Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (Munich), ISBN 978-3-423-65017-5

Nominations and Awards

2012: Book of the month of the German Academy for Children's and Youth Literature for Méto - Das Haus in April
2012: The lynx of the month for Méto - The house in August
2012: Book of the month by WDR 5 for Méto - Das Haus in May
2012: The best 7 books for young readers by Deutschlandfunk for Méto - Die Insel in November
2013: Nomination for the German Youth Literature Prize in the youth book category for Méto - Das Haus in March