Exit music: Au revoir cafébabel, from Italian editor Valeria Nicoletti
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Cafebabel ENG (NS)I'm writing this on my last Friday at cafébabel HQ, in a half-empty Paris in an August lull, as I am clearing out my desk for my successor to go forth and edit in my shoes...
I was in Ferrara for the Internazionale festival when I was first told that I had been hired as the next Italian editor of cafébabel, ten months ago. I remember how I felt: I was in the shade of the Estense castle, surrounded by international journalists and photographers under the warm October sun. I imagined myself living in Paris again, in the same streets where many adventures had taken place for me, in the same city where I always feel immediately at home (even if I have had to move flats at least ten times).
Four days later, I was already in Paris, in the second 'arrondissement' (district) of the city where the HQ of the magazine stands, behind a big blue door, up the three flights of stairs in a building standing tall in the former textile industrial area of the Strasbourg Saint-Denis neighbourhood.
In these ten months, cafébabel has seen me interview my favourite author, sleep in a occupied University in Budapest, punch a chocolate father christmas, enter crazy museums and creative squats, take part in the comic books festival in Angoulême, spend an afternoon with amazing literary minds, have a chat with a burlesque queen in Paris, drink wine with funny cinema types... And that’s not even the beginning of it.
I have rediscovered Paris, loathed it, fallen in love with it again. I have decided to stay in the French capital, even if I’m leaving my little corner of the office. The key, the desk, my beloved corner and cafebabel.it now are safely in the hands of Alexander, who I was happy to first meet at the magazine's euromed academy this summer. I am really happy to hand him the legacy of everything I have built in this year at cafébabel - and you can write him too, by the way, at [email protected]. Alex will also be taking over the '[email protected]' inbox.
As for me, I will be starting again with another Parisian adventure, that I promise to live at 5, 000 kilometers per second - in the spirit of the name of my favourite comic book, but also my favourite mood in general. For my last day, there is no adieu, but only an au revoir to every author and translator of cafébabel, to the cafebabel Budapest team who warmly hosted me for five days on reportage, and to the Parisian équipe who offered me this fantastic adventure. I send a sincere thanks to cafébabel and to every face, voice and pen it is made of.
A très très bientôt,
Valeria
Translated from Exit Music: Au revoir cafébabel