Italy will be the guest of honour at the second edition of the Paris Book Festival (formerly the Salon du Livre), which is once again paying for the over-25s. From 21 to 23 April at the ephemeral Grand Palais
The second edition of the Paris Book Festival, which succeeded the Salon du livre in 2022, will take place from 21 to 23 April 2023 at the ephemeral Grand Palais on the Champ-de-Mars, its organisers announced on Tuesday 14 February at the Italian Cultural Institute, with Italy as the guest country this year. “Italy, a neighbouring and friendly country, is breathtaking in the richness of its literature. Nearly 50 authors in any case will make the trip to Paris,” said the event’s general manager, Jean-Baptiste Passé, at a press conference. “France is the second largest market for Italian publishing. So coming here is an important emotion,” said the president of the Italian publishers’ association, Ricardo Franco Levi.
Entrance fee to be paid again
France and Italy are the fifth and sixth largest book markets in the world. French publishers buy nearly 1,000 Italian titles for translation each year, and Italians buy nearly 1,200 French titles.
The Paris Book Festival is returning to a paid admission model in 2023, after relaunching itself by opening its doors for free at the previous edition, the organisers have announced. The €5 entrance fee will not apply to everyone. Only those over 25 will pay to enter the main venue of the festival, the ephemeral Grand Palais on the Champ-de-Mars.
The Festival succeeded the Salon du livre de Paris, created in 1981, in 2022, and which had ended up no longer corresponding to the wishes of several publishers, because of its gigantic size at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.
TikTok partner of the event
The last of the 39 editions under the old format had attracted, in March 2019, 160,000 visitors. The first edition of the Festival, in April 2022, with a deliberately lower gauge, fell to 90,000 visitors. “We hope they will be 100,000 this year,” said Jean-Baptiste Passé.
The Paris Book Festival has announced the arrival of a new partner, the Chinese social network TikTok, which wishes to assert its ambitions in culture. The latter will promote the Festival’s events with the help of influencers (called “booktokers”). “Booktok is now a worldwide book club, probably the biggest”, said its head of culture and education partnerships, Élodie Ricquier Veybel.
