France to stage inaugural Reading Night

France will stage its first Reading Night on 14th January.

The late-night event is aimed to bring together booksellers, authors, publishers and libraries. It will provide a winter complement to the summer’s Partir en Livre for children and young adults that will be held for the third time in July 2017.

Inspired by the annual Libraries Night in the northern city of Lille, which had its third edition last October, the national reading event will stress evening and weekend opening by libraries, culture minister Audrey Azoulay told the French book trade publication Livres Hebdo in an interview. This is a major plank in her policy to promote reading, she added.

The date was chosen to coincide with the second French literary season, or rentrée littéraire, and the first anniversary of the 7th January terrorist attacks on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The first literary season comes just after the summer break.

The event will be organised by a steering committee made up of representatives of booksellers, libraries, publishers and authors associations. Funding of up to 1,000 euros before tax will be made available for selected projects if necessary, provided that this is less than the full cost involved.

Selection criteria originality, involvement of different players in the book business, and diversity of the targeted public. Preference will be given to activities or entertainments created specially for the occasion, and authors and illustrators will have to be paid for their active participation.