Everyone started a podcast in 2019, this we know for sure. Chanel though? They got ahead of the trend with the launch of their Chanel 3.55 podcast in 2017, and now, they are introducing a new series to the already established channel, entitled les Recontres. We love podcasts. We want to listen to them constantly. Especially when life gets too chaotic to pick up a book or read interviews online. In their new format under the name les Rencontres, Chanel's latest podcast series falls in line with the Rendez-vous littéraires rue Cambon that was established in 2021 by Virginie Viard together with Chanel ambassador and spokesperson Charlotte Casiraghi.

For the content, each month a new episode will be recorded in French or English and will discuss select female authors who have recently published their first novels.

“This podcast is dedicated to young literary creation,” explains Charlotte Casiraghi. “We wanted to meet authors who have only just started writing novels. By discovering their writing rituals, their daring, their doubts and their sources of inspiration, we hope to encourage other talented young people to get involved in creation.”

We are all aware of the fierce and prolific female writers that are reigning over the zeitgeist at the moment, and what better way to celebrate them? Introduced by Charlotte Casiraghi, the conversations are hosted by the journalist Lauren Bastide for the French version, and by the writer and literary critic Erica Wagner for the English version.

For the first episode, Bastide speaks with Pauline Gonthier on her novel Les oiselles sauvages and the genesis of her writing, her decisive meeting with Annie Ernaux, and reveals her ambition to write books that will make people want to read more. An idea we can all relate to when choosing reading material. For the second episode which has been conducted in english, Wagner speaks with Lisa Taddeo, whose debut novel, Animal, was released last year. In their conversation, they discuss Taddeo's desire to question what society expects of women, her innate skill for fiction, and importance of self-criticism within the creative process.

If you, too, are as thrilled about conversations with emerging female authors as we are, you can listen to the first two episodes of les Rencontres on chanel.com and in the CHANEL 3.55 Podcast on Apple Podcasts.