The Paris Book Festival will return in 2023 to a paid admission model, after relaunching itself by opening its doors for free during the previous edition, the organizers announced on Tuesday.
The entry fee, 5 euros, will not concern everyone.
Only those over 25 will pay to enter the main venue of this Festival, the ephemeral Grand Palais on the Champ-de-Mars.
The Festival had succeeded in 2022 to the Paris Book Fair, created in 1981, and which had ended up no longer corresponding to the wishes of several publishers, because of its gigantism at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.
The last of the 39 editions under the old format had attracted, in March 2019, 160,000 visitors.
The first edition of the Festival, in April 2022, with a deliberately lower gauge, fell to 90,000 visitors.
“
We hope that there will be 100,000 this year
”, launched the director general of the event, Jean-Baptiste Passé, during a press conference.
"
It's a new edition after a very upset start, but you are well settled
," said the deputy mayor of Paris in charge of culture, Carine Rolland.
The 2023 edition, from April 21 to 23, was presented at the Italian Cultural Institute, Italy being the guest country for this edition.
“
A neighboring and friendly country, Italy makes one dizzy with the richness of its literature.
Nearly 50 authors in any case will make the trip to Paris
”, underlined Jean-Baptiste Passé.
“
France is the second largest market for Italian publishing.
So coming here is an important emotion
, ”said the president of the Italian publishers association, Ricardo Franco Levi.
France and Italy are the fifth and sixth largest book markets in the world.
French publishers buy nearly 1,000 Italian titles for translation each year, and Italians nearly 1,200 French titles.
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The Paris Book Festival has announced the arrival of a new partner, the social network of Chinese origin TikTok, which wishes to affirm its ambitions in culture.
This will promote Festival events with the help of influencers (called “
booktokers
”).
"
Booktok is today a world book club, probably the largest
," said its head of culture and education partnerships, Élodie Ricquier Veybel.
