Bruno de La Salle

Writer of short stories and founder of the Oral Literature Centre (CLiO), Bruno de la Salle is regarded as one of the initiators of the revival of oral narrative in France.

His first musical narratives, Chaperon Rouge and La Pêche de Vigne, both dating from 1969, captured the interest of the public and cultural agents as a form of expression close to traditional oral literature. Since then, he has devoted himself to disseminating and developing the art of narration by means of his shows, training workshops and the production of numerous radio programmes. In 1981 he created CLiO, a centre that brings together resources for the research and teaching of the art of narrative and epic poetry which has been the venue for collective musical recitals such as: L'Odyssée d'Homère (1981, 1991), Le Récit de Shéhérazade (1982) and Le Cycle du Roi Arthur (1985), among others. He has organised or taken part in major festivals devoted to storytelling and, since 1997, has organised the Storybook and Storytellers' Show in Vendôme.

He has published over a dozen books that compile most of the stories from his shows and his radio broadcasts for France Culture. Worthy of particular mention are Les contes de toujours. 15 titres de contes traditionnels (1986), the winner of the Young Adults' Book Prize of the People of Letters Society, and Le conteur amoureux (1996), an autobiography accompanied by reflections on his work.