In Montreuil, no midlife crisis for the Children’s Book Fair

In forty years, the SLPJ, which will be held from November 27 to December 2, has grown considerably. For its president, Sylvie Vassallo, “small Salon has become big”, and it now offers many windows on the world.

CEvery year it's the same thing. The days are getting shorter, the leaves are falling, the first morning frosts are freezing us, the rain and the gray sky are tiring us… And at the end of November, it is finally time to warm our hearts and souls in the softness of the pages which populate the Book and Youth Press Fair in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis). It’s been going on for forty years! To salute such longevity, the SLPJ decrees this year the “General Dream!” » and intends to allow children, as well as imaginations, to come and frolic in its aisles from November 27 to December 2.

“Petit Salon has become big, writes its president Sylvie Vassallo. How many heroines and heroes of children's literature were born during these forty years? How many imagined and drawn worlds have opened up? How many little and big feet have trodden the aisles? […] How many dreams were added to each other? » The SLPJ has grown considerably over the years: we now come across a quantity of literature and windows on the world of childhood, and its success never fades. Last July, between the two rounds of a legislative election which made us fear the worst, Sylvie Vassallo told us to what extent “the opening of horizons [était] now essential ». She specifies today that “there are huge challenges to be taken up so that the excellence of children’s literature reaches everyone’s hands”.

More than a hundred meetings and signatures

On the program this year, an open-air exhibition of forty images to crown “a major art”, that of children's literature, and its creativity: “works like candles” which can be seen on the path leading to the living room. Nestled in different locations of the SLPJ, you will also find a multisensory exhibition highlighting twenty key titles of contemporary children's literature. Some invite you to escape, others to nonsense, some are to be felt and others to be listened to, read or described to someone… Included are the essentials Blue Dog from Nadja, Chien invisible by Claude Ponti, Annie of the lake de Kitty Crowther, ABC de la nature by Bernadette Gervais, Madam White Rabbit by Gilles Bachelet, or even Les Vermeilles by Camille Jourdy.

As usual, more than a hundred meetings and signings are planned with renowned authors, illustrators (the entire program here) and activities (games, readings, fun conferences, invitations to dream and writing, meetings, etc.) will brighten up children and adults (the whole program there). To have the pleasure of listening to the deliciously whimsical Susie Morgenstern (will she have her heart-shaped glasses on her nose?), come on Sunday, December 1, at 4:30 p.m., for an interview with Marie Desplechin entitled “In the dreams of the Big Dipper”. Something to dream big!

Montreuil Literature and Youth Press Fair, 128, rue de Paris, Montreuil (93). From Wednesday November 27 to December 2. Free (ticket to be purchased in advance on the Show website).