On the exhibition floor of the Festival du Livre de Paris 2025 at the Grand Palais.
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
A ‘Sumptuous Setting’
In its 44th edition since its 1981 inception, the newly renamed Festival du Livre de Paris returned to the renovated Grand Palais for its 2025 edition, reporting 114,ooo attendees.
The Syndicat national de l’édition (SNE) is highlighting a statistic indicating that 43 percent of visitors were under 25 years old. Even if some of this may be thanks to organized school trips, it’s a handsome fact, such a presence of younger attendees.
Close to 1,200 authors were engaged in programming at this public-facing fair. We’re told that Guest of Honor Morocco had more than 50 authors in its delegation that also included 38 publishing houses.
The presentations used 11 stages at the Grand Palais and cooperative efforts were produced in partnership with the Centre Pompidou and Cabaret Extra; the Year of the Sea and the Galerie de la Mer; and the SCELF (Société Civile des Éditeurs de Langue Française) with the Grande Galerie de l’Adaptation.
The international reach of the show was reflected in the participation of 12 countries.
Vincent Montagne
Vincent Montagne, president of the National Publishing Union and the book festival, speaks of being delighted that the return to the Grand Palais was such a success, and he hails the large audience attracted to this “sumptuous setting.”
Montagne points to a French-industry participation of some 450 publishing houses of all sizes, located both in Paris and in the provinces.
“This year,” he says, “our offering, which combined author meetings and book signings, as well as artistic workshops, exhibitions, and film and series screenings, was a hit with the public.”
Pierre Yves Bérenguer
Pierre-Yves Bérenguer, director of the festival, says, “We’re always very pleased to see a massive turnout of young people. I would also like to thank our public and private partners who contributed to the success of this Festival.”
Several literary prizes, of course, were announced during the show:
- Literary Prize of the high school students of the Île-de-France Region
Novel category: Guillaume Nail, We Don’t Swim in the Loire (Denoël editions)
Comic book category: Tiphaine Rivière , La Distinction (Delcourt editions)
Poetry category: Sofia Karampali Farhat, Zaatar (Bruno Doucey editions) - Paris City Libraries Readers’ Prize: Guillaume Viry, L’appelle (Editions du Canoë)
- Marie Claire Prize: Minh Tran Huy, My Grandmother and the Land of Poetry (Flammarion)
- Marcel Gotlib Prize: François Boucq received the 3rd Gotlib Prize today for his comic strip Le Petit Pape Pie 3.14 rondt les angles (Fluide Glacial)
- France-Quebec Literary Prize 2024: Éric Chacour, What I Know About You (Folio)
- Special Trophy for Youth Author of the Year 2025 with Livres Hebdo, awarded to Vincent Cuvellier. His publications in 2025 are Émile et le facteur with Ronan Badel (Gallimard Jeunesse) and Madeleine sous la ville with Guillaume Bianco (Little Urban)
Overall, the festival’s leadership says, “These three days were an exceptional demonstration of the appetite of all generations for books and reading.”
The 2026 edition of Festival du Livre de Paris is set for April 17 to 19, at the Grand Palais, giving it at least a one-day overlap with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the French market is here, more from us on bookselling is here, and more on book fairs is here.