The world

Zoufftgen, a village on the border

Zoufftgen is a small village in the Moselle department of north-eastern France (Lorraine), sitting right on the French-Luxembourg border between Volmerange-les-Mines and Hettange-Grande, a few kilometres from Thionville and Dudelange. A rural place turned toward the forest, crossed by old roads and footpaths that villagers have walked for generations.

This is where The Tales of Zoufftgen take root: in these familiar landscapes, in the farms, in the memory of an old forester's house, under a great oak that truly grew there, along a main street one can still walk down.

Places you can actually visit

Each tale mentions — or hints at — a precise place in the village. The main street, the Vogelsang farm, the oak on the path, the forester's house that is more than a hundred years old: anchor points that children and their families can come and see "for real".

That bridge between the imagined and the real turns reading into a small investigation. You recognise a detail, you spot a silhouette, you discover that the forest you cross on Sundays is also the one in a story.

A living nature

Wild boars, squirrels, robins, hazelnuts, acorns, autumn leaves and Christmas snow aren't just scenery: they are the supporting characters of the tales. Seasons set the rhythm of the stories, and each book carries the colour of the moment when it was imagined.

It is also a way, for young readers, to look differently at the trees, the paths, the animals seen on walks — these ordinary things which take on another meaning once you know they have a place in a story.

Between France, Luxembourg and beyond

The nearby border is part of the world. Readings at the library of Dudelange in Luxembourg, or in French schools just across the border, let The Tales of Zoufftgen travel through a region where children often grow up speaking several languages, and where stories naturally cross borders.