For the fourth consecutive year, the event created in 2017 by the Ministry of Culture to celebrate the pleasure of reading is organized by the CNL.
The 9e edition of Nuits de la lecture invites you, from January 23 to 26, 2025, to celebrate Books, literature and reading around the theme of heritage.
The reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral in December 2024 reminded us of the importance of places steeped in history, which mark a country, a culture, individuals, as literary works do. Defined by UNESCO as “ the legacy of the past that we enjoy today and pass on to future generations», Heritage can be tangible and intangible.
Books, sometimes true objects of art, nourish the material cultural heritage and the stories they bequeath to us, by shaping our knowledge, our representations and our imaginations, contribute to its intangible counterpart.
Literary and heritage wonder
Heritage is, moreover, closely linked to intimate literature, which evokes what is bequeathed to us and transmitted by our ancestors through the generations: a body, goods (including books), a culture, sometimes trauma.
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Literature tells a heritage, that of the authors, just as reading contributes to the construction of a collective and individual heritage.
Heritage also includes places or buildings, whether a historical monument, a village church or a natural park. This is why, over the course of four days and four nights, cultural, artistic and heritage places will meet you all over France to celebrate reading in all its forms.
Dennis Vinson
On Thursday, the 2025 Reading Nights will be inaugurated in the evening at the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, in Paris. The next day, the authors will make their voices heard at the National Book Center during a literary karaoke which will combine musical heritage and literary creation.
Events and meetings will invite you to marvel at literature and heritage, at the Lieu unique in Nantes, at the Bateau Feu – Scène nationale de Dunkerque, at the Musée des beaux-arts d’Orléans or even at the Arles antique departmental museum. Our partnership with the Center des monuments nationaux (CMN), the Historic Residence and Paris museums will delight young and old guests in major historic places such as the Arc de Triomphe, the Conciergerie, the catacombs, the Carnavalet Museum, the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel, the Belvedere, the Thol castle, or the Saint-Gabriel priory. Thousands of exceptional events, offered to all audiences, are scheduled to celebrate the pleasure of reading, throughout France.
This year, we are delighted to count on Maylis de Kerangal and Stéphane Bern as godmother and godfather of the 2025 edition of Nuits de la lecture. In his latest novel, Surf dayMaylis de Kerangal shares her personal heritage with us by situating her history in Le Havre, in the city where she grew up and of which she gives us part of her history, in the same way as Stéphane Bern, committed to defense and security. safeguarding heritage, in its television and radio broadcasts, but also in its books.
I invite you to meet up during these four days and nights to share and celebrate the love of reading together!
Happy Reading Nights to all!
Régine Hatchondo, president of the CNL
Highlights
- Rabelais in Villers-Cotterêts
Atelier Projrctiles/CMN
The City of the French Language, inaugurated at the end of October 2023 by Emmanuel Macron, occupies the castle where François Iis sign in the 16th centurye century the order making French compulsory in the administration. Within this historic place, the game of Oliver Martin-Salvan will be in the spotlight on Saturday January 25The Quarter Book novel by François Rabelais, accompanied on the lute.
-- In the medieval kitchens of the conciergerie
Saturday January 25 in the morning, an original visit will tell the story of the Revolution in songs. In the afternoon, visitors will be able to listen to readings of tales, fabliaux and legends from the Middle Ages around a snack. In the presence of the godmother of this edition of Nuits de la lecture, the writer Maylis de Kerangal. 2, boulevard du Palais (Paris 1is).
- Meeting with Catherine Froment at the Saint-Denis basilica
OLIVIER STRIKES
Between the walls of this jewel of Gothic art, a royal necropolis, the author will unveil two tours on Saturday January 25, presenting the figure of Catulla, at the origin of the foundation of the basilica, and by embodying Queen Catherine de Medici through little-known episodes of his youth.
Saint-Denis Cathedral Basilica . 1, rue de la Légion-d’Honneur, Saint-Denis.
- Literary karaoke at the National Book Center
The CNL will open its doors for a unique musical and literary evening. After choosing two of their favorite songs, the guest authors will read texts that they inspired. Friday January 24 at 6:30 p.m.
National Book Center . 53, rue de Verneuil (Paris 7e).
- Notre-Dame de Paris in the spotlight
In residence at the Maison de Victor Hugo, children’s author Val Reiyel will meet schoolchildren on Thursday January 23. Friday January 24, five poets will participate in the 6e edition of the Poetic Vocal Server, before a reading around Notre-Dame de Paris the next day with theater cycle students from the Conservatoire Boulanger.
House of Victor Hugo . 6, place des Vosges (Paris 4e).
- Meeting with Gabrielle Althen at the Arc de Triomphe
For its first participation in the Nights of Reading, the monument will be the scene of declamations which will put it in the spotlight. Excerpts from texts by Jules Michelet, Alphonse de Lamartine and George Sand will be presented by the writer Gabrielle Althen. Friday January 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Triumphal arch . Place Charles-de-Gaulle (Paris 8e).
- Castle and ramparts of the city of Carcassonne
The castle and ramparts of the city of Carcassonne will host a public reading honoring the winners of the Little Reading Champions from Carcassonne schools. A dictation, proposed by Franck Doucet, administrator of the monument, will also be on the program. Finally, a workshop dedicated to haikus, led by Fleur Daugey, writer, journalist and ethologist in residence at the city, will be held at the top of the ramparts.
Saturday January 25, reading aloud at 2 p.m., dictation at 5 p.m. and workshop at 11 a.m. Dictation and workshop upon registration at 04.68.11.7079.
Ramparts of the city of Carcassonne . 1 rue Viollet-le-Duc 11000 Carcassonne.
More information onthe Nuits de la lecture website .
