How did you come up with the idea of literary dinners?
Every year, we celebrate Culture Nights initiated by the National Book Center for the Ministry of Culture. Until now, appointments have been virtual. First because of COVID, then to be able to integrate authors from all over the world.
This year I wanted something else: for the women and men of the network to meet again. These family dinners everywhere are part of our DNA. So I said to myself: the only way to bring together members from all over the world is ultimately to organize a French-speaking literary dinner everywhere on January 25. Reading Nights take place on January 24, 25 and 26. The idea is to recreate the magic of the book around a large table, readings, literary favorites.
As soon as the idea was launched in the network, I received very enthusiastic messages from members ready to play the game. In the end, 20 dinners, from the Bordeaux countryside to Sydney, from the beaches of San Diego to those of Reunion, from the suburbs of Warsaw to those of New York, from the port of La Ciotat to the Breton beaches, will take place.
Is nighttime good for reading?
Any time is good for reading, but there is a special magic to reading under the stars, even in the comfort of an apartment. Put a few book lovers in a room and they won’t be stopped! I’m afraid the dinners will continue late into the night.
How do these literary dinners take place?
I gave everyone carte blanche, as long as it was a friendly dinner and favorite readings. Some wanted to open their villa or apartment. Others preferred to reserve a restaurant. Some opened to readers, others invited recognized authors, some hosts planned musical readings, while our poets focused the evening on poetry. Our Algerian ambassador brought together Algerian authors in Paris in a beautiful Kabyle restaurant. In Réunion, the authors invite readers into a large bubble on the ocean. In San Diego, one of our members opens her house to the Atlantic. We will read there but we will also play with language and literature.
We want to increase the number of cities and therefore the participating members over the course of the meetings.
This is a first that will last over time. We decided to have a French-speaking literary dinner around the world, every season. In the spring, we will celebrate Francophonie Day before launching the summer and fall dinners.
We want to increase the number of cities and therefore the participating members over the course of the meetings. 20 cities for this first edition launched two months ago, it’s already a great success for the network. But ultimately, it’s not surprising when you know the kindness and conviviality of Rencontre des Auteurs Francophones.
Various entities wanted to join us: associations, bookstores, literary speakers. A formidable spider web was quickly woven around the idea. It’s great!
What’s in store for New York readers?
In New York, we will be in the countryside. The dinner will be held in Westchester in Mamaroneck. It will bring together authors and readers with readings and favorites of the year. Here again, it was organized by one of our ambassadors in a location and format that resembles her.
What are the plans for Meetings of French-speaking authors in 2025?
We return to New York at the end of April with the 8th edition of the Festival International des Auteurs Francophones. We have four incredible days in store for our authors and the French-speaking New York public. We will then have signed the Malaysian edition in March, for the second year, under the leadership of our ambassador Pom Ehrentrant, who has just won the Culture/Art of Living Trophy of the Trophées des Français de l’ASEAN. In September, we launch the 9th edition of the festival for the first time in California. Three days in La Jolla in the city’s most iconic cultural venue and with the participation of very involved local institutions. In October, we will be in Belgium.
But 2025 will also be marked by a complete overhaul of the platform which will become a powerful digital tool to fulfill its missions of promoting French-speaking culture and French-speaking talents around the world.
We are going to develop the spotlight on the African continent. There are so many French-speaking talents in Africa who are not known, and on the other hand, there are so many African readers who do not have access to books from around the world. The platform will also become interactive and allow authors to access new visibility tools.
In 2025, the publishing house will also publish three collaborative collections: homage to the shores of the Mediterranean in March, Homage to Pagnol in August, and a book dedicated to our Madeleines de Proust in December. We also plan to take charge of a first original manuscript and support it over a year, with a communication campaign and by presenting it at various events.
Read a little every day
What do you think would be the best resolution for a lover of French-speaking literature?
To read a little every day. To not allow yourself not to take the time to delve into a few pages. Personally I start my day with a coffee and 15 minutes of reading. If I can replicate this meeting during the day, so much the better. Otherwise, I would have already taken this breath of literary air in the morning.
Moreover, we created these collaborative books with the aim of reading a minimum of time each day. Readers find in each volume between 40 and 80 texts and poems. They can therefore read 5 minutes a day without losing track of their reading. No more excuses! Nothing replaces reading and nothing makes our neurons work better than reading.
If I can add another mission that we should all take on: getting a child to read. His own, that of a loved one, a neighbor… whatever. This is such a positive action for the child that you will be proud of it. For its development and because there is no better passport in society. A young person who knows how to talk about a book will never be seen with the same eyes by his interlocutors. Up to you !
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