the year of all records for the Brive Book Fair

Sales, attendance and turnover: in 2024, the Brive-la-Gaillarde Book Fair has broken all its records. For its forty-second edition, the largest literary event in France was notably supported by the presence of Kamel Daoud, winner of the Goncourt Prize a few days earlier.

They no longer have enough hands to carry all their books! This Sunday, November 10, in the aisles of the Brive-la-Gaillarde Fair, a couple from Gironde are preparing to leave with a (very) light wallet in euros… but with arms full of future readings. “We broke the budgets'amuse Jérémy. We shouldn't… Roughly speakingit had to stay within fifty euros. There, I think we're at two hundred euros… But we're having a great time!“

In their bags, most of the headliners of this forty-second edition are represented, from the adopted Briviste Christian Signol to the philosopher Frédéric Lenoir, including the author of best-sellers Valérie Perrin. The novelist spent the last day of the event signing her latest work, “Tata”, with her back bent over her stand. “At some point I wish I could sign ten o'clock, but I can'tshe smiled. My heart would like it, my head would like it, but now my wrist is starting to really hurt. I'll stop soon!“

This enthusiasm shared by visitors and writers sums up the success encountered this year by the largest literary event in France. In a press release published this Tuesday, November 12, the organizers welcomed a “historic milestone reached“: for the first time, the Book Fair exceeded one million euros in turnover. Amounting to “1 110 000 euros“, the latter exceeds that generated in 2023 by 13%.

These figures come on top of another record, that of attendance. With 80,000 visitors in three days, including 28,000 for Sunday, “we saw a peak of activity that was rarely felt at the Brive fair“, assures Vincent Pelle, director of the Albin Michel publishing house.

The event was notably supported by the presence of the Franco-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud, who, a few days before the start of the fair, won the Goncourt Prize. When it comes time to take stock, the author of “Houris” is neck and neck with Christian Signol for the record for the number of books sold, with nine hundred copies each. Another prestigious name, the Renaudot Gaël Faye prize has sold seven hundred copies of his book “Jaracanda”; Miguel Bonnefoy, Femina Prize for his novel “The Dream of the Jaguar”, more than four hundred.

In a gloomy economic context, the Brive-la-Gaillarde Book Fair constitutes another interlude during which the sector can make a profit. So much so that the journalist Jérôme Garcin, president of this 2024 edition, closed the event with these words: “I have never experienced what I experienced there. Brive is unique (…) This city and this fair are magical.“