Vanessa Springora, Pierre Lemaitre and Leïla Slimani are among the stars of a still busy January literary season, just after the peak of bookstore traffic in December.
No respite for booksellers. In January and February, the Livres Hebdo magazine counted 507 novels, including 366 in French and 141 translated. This is 5.8% more than in 2024.
“Previous returns have proven to be a little timid” in terms of sales, according to the editorial of the specialized monthly. “Publishers are however keen to renew their offering”, with 70 first French novels.
Dozens of new releases are released on January 2, which falls on a Thursday, one of publishers’ favorite days of the week for their publications.
The headliner that day promises to be the Japanese Haruki Murakami. His many fans have been waiting for more than a year and a half for the French translation of “The City of Uncertain Walls” (Belfond editions).
It will also be the return to bookstores of Vanessa Springora, five years to the day after “Le Consentement”, one of the editorial events of recent years, where the editor looked back on her relationship under influence with the writer Gabriel Matzneff when she was a teenager. “Patronyme” (published by Grasset) is an investigation into the author’s Czech grandfather, of whom she found two photos in Nazi uniform.
This winter 2025 return is a launch for newcomers in literary publishing, a market where it is difficult to find a place.
Hugo Publishing (Glénat group) is launching a black novels label, called Impact, with “Génisse” by American Mary Kate Williams on January 8.
– Trilogy, tetralogy –
Le Soir Ven is a house founded by the Swiss Jouvence (Flammarion group). Its first title on January 13 is a nice editorial coup: “Margo has money problems” by American Rufi Thorpe, adapted into a series for Apple TV+ in 2025 with Nicole Kidman.
Finally, Les Nouveaux Éditeurs, a group founded by a former boss of Hachette Livre, launched La Tribu editions in February, with Cécile Cayrel (“Aveu de tendesse”) and Jérôme Chantreau (“L’Affaire de la rue Transnonain”).
But readers’ attention should be focused above all on sure values, authors seen on television and prize winners.
By Leïla Slimani, 2016 Goncourt Prize, “I’ll Take the Fire” by Gallimard, the last part of the trilogy “The Land of Others”, on Morocco after independence, is published on January 8.
By Pierre Lemaitre, 2013 Goncourt Prize, “A Radiant Future” by Calmann-Lévy, third part of his tetralogy on the Trente Glorieuses, comes out on January 21.
Editions Albin Michel are betting on January 16 on two volumes, 800 pages and 43.90 euros in total, by Jean-Christophe Grangé, “Sans soleil”.
Frédéric Beigbeder, in “A Single Man” at Grasset on January 8, evokes his father Jean-Michel, “a Frenchman who believed himself to be an American even though he was English.” And Philippe Besson, in “You speak about my son” on January 2 at Julliard, evokes the suicide of a harassed teenager.
One of the curiosities is the first novel by a pseudonymous writer, Marceau Miller, with “Le Roman de Marceau Miller” (January 17). Its publisher, La Martinière, says it has already paid for translations and an audiovisual adaptation project.
Among six “must-haves” from Livres Hebdo, two are also on the list of one of the rare literary prizes for this January start, the Grand Prix RTL-Lire awarded in March: “Ta promise” by Camille Laurens (Gallimard) and ” From our wounds a kingdom” by Gaëlle Josse (Buchet-Chastel).
Jean Echenoz, Prix Médicis 1983 and Goncourt 1999, is also competing in this Grand Prix, with “Bristol”, still published by Minuit.
