Saint-Léger The Roannais Book Fair returns this weekend for a third edition, in the town of Saint-Léger-sur-Roanne. An even broader program than previous editions.
This annual meeting, now unmissable in the Roanne cultural landscape, is organized by the dynamic team of Culturons Demain, which brings together a beautiful cast of authors on Saturday and Sunday in the small municipal hall. This year, 36 writers were selected from dozens of applications to meet the Roanne public and present their books. To tell us about the show, Bérengère Bauchamp, secretary of the association, answers our questions.
How do you choose authors? The choice has been made since March 31, the date on which the members who wish it met. We are lucky to be able to decide, because we only have around thirty places, but dozens of candidates. The selection is made in accordance with strict criteria: ensuring places for local authors; represent all literary genres to guarantee a diversity of offering and target all audiences; only present new products less than two years old. The 2024 program was born from these three criteria.
How will this third edition differ from previous ones? It is intended to be more general than previous editions, while retaining the good humor which is our trademark. Some literary genres are more common than others and it is, for example, easy to find yourself drowning in thrillers or dark novels. Poetry and theater are literary genres that have until now been less present. There was also a bit of a shortage of books for teenagers in previous years. These were areas for improvement for us. We left a little fewer places for the detective this year, to favor a little more the novel and children’s publications. We even have young adults!
More general than previous editions
Tell us a little about the authors who will be present… We have the chance to welcome, on Saturday only, the Netflix novelist and screenwriter Ingrid Desjours, made famous thanks to the success of her novel Echo . She comes to present her new novel, Hold back the winter, in preview at Culturons Demain. It’s something we’re very proud of. She will share the poster with illustrator Laureline Masson, also present at school on Fridays to help the children work. The novelist Magali Discours returns, and we will welcome Christophe Royer and the Belgian André Lalieux, among others. For two days, these 36 authors from all over France will sign their new works. We even thought of the little ones, since on Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., children will be able to take a free photo with Little Brown Bear, the teddy bear from Bayard editions.
This year again, you will award the Culturons Demain prize to the jury’s favorite book. Can we find out the winner? The prize will be presented on Sunday at 4 p.m. by the sub-prefect Hervé Gérin, who is kind enough to be with us every year. I can’t tell you anything about the winner. To succeed the talented Dominique Dejob, winner of the 2023 edition, we had a plethora of candidates who sent us their work. Our jury has read them all. This year, a book was truly unanimous. But we’ll have to wait until Sunday to find out which one.
Practical information. The third Roannais Book Fair, organized by Culturons Demain, will be held on October 5 to 6 at the ERA room in Saint Léger sur Roanne, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Entrance is free.
