Six things that show the french love for books and reading

For many, French culture is synonymous with the country’s food and wine, its iconic fashion houses or the films of Truffaut and Godard. But one aspect that perhaps does not get the attention

it deserves is French literature. From 20th-century stalwarts Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre to mediaeval philosophers Réné Descartes and Michel de Montaigne via Molière, Zola and Victor

Hugo, the list of famous French writers is endless. To mark France’s national day for independent bookshops - _la Fête de la librairie indépendante_ - we take a look at what helps to foster

France’s love of literature. 1. POCKET BOOKS One thing that sets French readers apart is their affinity for smaller books that are prominent throughout the country. Unlike in the UK or the

US - where books are generally larger - a number of French publishers print a wide range of reading material in the pocket book format. The size became popular with soldiers in World War

One, allowing them to keep a book on them in the trenches without compromising themselves with extra equipment. Ever since publishers have continued to publish works in this format. This

applies to both newly released books (which can be printed in both larger and smaller sizes) and reprintings of classic works of literature in the style of a pocket book. These books are

particularly popular in Paris and other big French cities. They can fit easily in a suit pocket or small handbag and be read when standing on a cramped metro or tram. Their flexibility and

lightness mean you are never weighed down with one in your pocket. 2. POCKET PRICES It is not only the size of the books in France that contribute to people’s reading habits, but the prices,

too. In 1994, Flammarion re-published a series of classic books under the new _Librio _banner, costing just 10 Francs (about €1.50 in today’s money). This allowed people from all income

levels to get the opportunity to read classic literature, and there are now more than 1,000 titles in the series, covering everything from poetry and literature to philosophical essays and

cartoons. The first book in the series was Guy Maupassant’s _Le Horla_. Other early works included Franz Kafka’s _The Metamorphosis_, William Shakespeare’s _Romeo and Juliet_ and Stephen

King’s _The Monkey_. A number of other publishing houses in France followed suit and released their range of cut-price editions, meaning you can almost always guarantee you’ll find a book

you can afford with the change in your back pocket. The _Librio_ range is still popular and books remain good value, with some costing as little as €2. This keeps reading as one of the

cheapest pastimes in France. READ MORE: BOOKS TO HELP IMPROVE YOUR FRENCH 3: THE LOVE (AND PROTECTION) OF INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES The French hold a special place in their hearts for

independent bookstores and are inextricably tied to the literary output of the country. Bucking a trend seen across Europe, the number of such bookshops is rising in France. LAST YEAR, 142

BOOKSTORES STORES OPENED ACROSS THE COUNTRY. Overall, there are around 3,500 independent bookstores across France – about as many in the UK and US combined. These bookshops are filled with

everything from novels and political texts to cartoons and children’s books and are often at the heart of a community. The government has given independent bookstores considerable protection

from larger competitors, including Amazon and Fnac. In 1981, the _Loi Lang_ - a groundbreaking piece of legislation designed to protect bookshops - limited discounts on newly released books

to 5%, preventing national stores from undercutting independent ones. More recently, the government announced A €3 MINIMUM SHIPPING CHARGE FOR ONLINE BOOK ORDERS UNDER €35, in a bid to get

bookworms to browse and buy at their local stores instead of online. READ MORE: FRENCH WRITER REVEALS SECRETS OF TRANSLATING A GREAT NOVEL 4. LITERARY PRIZES Most people know about the Nobel

Prize for Literature (which has been won more times by French writers than any other nationality and was most recently awarded to French author Annie Ernaux but there are a number of other

prestigious prizes that centre around Francophone authors. The most well-known of these is probably the _Prix Goncourt_, which has been running since 1903. Marcel Proust, André Malraux,

Simone de Beauvoir, and Michel Houellebecq are among those to have received the award. The prize is not solely for French authors but for authors who write in French, meaning winners have

come from former French colonies such as Morocco and Senegal, Francophone countries in Europe such as Belgium and has even seen a winner from Afghanistan. The prize is one of the ‘big six’

literary awards in France – others include the _Prix Medicis_ for up-and-coming authors, the _Prix Femina_, created in protest against the _Goncourt__’s_ all-male judging panel, and the

_Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française_, awarded by its namesake. Winning one of these awards is seen as a great honour and the history and grandiosity of an award such as the

_Prix Goncourt _makes it a huge event on the French cultural calendar, with perhaps even more attention paid to this than to the Nobel Prize in France. READ MORE: HOW READING ANNIE ERNAUX

WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND FRANCE 5. PRESTIGIOUS BOOK FAIRS Alongside bookshops and prizes, the economic impact of books is important in France, with the country seeing some of the biggest and

most prestigious book fairs in the world. No country hosts more book fairs each year than France and although many are centred around the capital, a number of well-known events relating to

literature can be found throughout the country. Although sometimes difficult to reconcile books and television, a number of TV shows in France centred on the world of literature. Perhaps the

most well-known of these was _Un livre, un jour_, a one-minute programme that gave a brief overview of a different book to viewers every day, increasing their awareness of not just

Francophone, but global literature. An astonishing 6,084 episodes of the show ran before its cancellation in December 2020. On top of this, a range of other shows aimed at presenting

literature from either France or overseas, and the frequency of inviting authors onto talk shows and for interviews, keep books at the forefront of French people’s minds. There is also the

‘national day of reading’, an annual event created in 2018 by the Ministry of Education which invites everyone in France to collectively read for 15 minutes at the same time on March 10.

This is to help strengthen “the nation’s attachment to literature” and for children and adults alike to bond over reading. 6. IT IS INGRAINED INTO FRENCH CULTURE A study in 2019 from the

_Centre National du Livre _shows that 92% of French people read at least one book a year, and 88% of people read as a hobby. Around one-in-two people read every day or almost every day, and

31% of respondents said they read more than twenty books a year. The study also showed that 84% of French people buy books as a gift, helping to cement the reading culture for both adults

and children. At school, French children have a wide range of classic French literature to read, and by splitting classes into distinct literature and grammar lessons, devote more time to

reading. Most children, therefore, grow up to be acutely aware of some of France’s literary output, and across their literature and mandatory philosophy classes, will experience some of the

world’s most famous writers. As in the UK and the US, France emits ‘soft power’ through its culture, and France - Paris in particular - has the image of a bohemian beacon for writers, drawn

to the country for centuries. The classics are held in high esteem, and particularly in the 20th century, the idea of authors in smoky Parisian ‘left bank’ cafés discussing philosophy was

spread to the world. Some of the best-known authors, such as Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett, lived (and wrote) about their time in Paris. The French are fiercely proud of

their literature and literary greats, and with such a wealth of authors to choose from, it is no wonder that reading still holds such a special place in their hearts. RELATED ARTICLES FIVE

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