Joseph Ponthus

Ponthus earned his khâgne in Reims and Nancy. He first worked in the town hall of Nanterre as a special education teacher. He co-authored a book with four of his students in 2012, titled Nous ... la cité and published by La Découverte [fr].^[2] In 2015, he moved to Lorient to live with his wife, where he first worked in a fish cannery and a slaughterhouse.^[3]

For two years, Ponthus recorded his impressions and feelings as well as those of his colleagues. These recordings were published in January 2019 under the title À la ligne by Éditions de la Table ronde. The English version of this book, On the Line: Notes from a factory, translated by Stephanie Smee, was published by Black Inc. in 2021.^[4] The book followed a flow of free verse poetry and has been considered a key example of factory composition, showing how "poetic language can spark collective awakening and resistance to dehumanizing conditions".^[5] He explained that "the plant [...] has set the pace: on a production line, everything is linked very quickly. There is no time for pretty subordinates. The gestures are mechanical and the thoughts go to line".^[6] It was well received by critics,^[7] and journalist François Busnel [fr] added it to his list of favorite reads on 6 February 2019 on the radio show La Grande Librairie [fr].^[8] In March 2019, the book received the Grand prix RTL-Lire.^[9][10] A few weeks later, it was awarded the Prix Régine-Deforges [fr],^[11][12] the Prix Jean Amila-Meckert [fr], and the Prix du premier roman par les lecteurs des bibliothèques de la Ville de Paris.^[13] In November 2019, it received the Prix Eugène-Dabit du roman populiste,^[14] and the Prix littéraire des étudiants de Sciences Po [fr] in June 2020. Even before these awards, the book received much success from bookstores.^[15]

Joseph Ponthus died of cancer on 24 February 2021 at the age of 42.^[16]

• Nous ... la cité (2012)^[17]
• À la ligne (2019)^[18]