France/Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: the most literary region in France

Published on 31/03/2023 | La rédaction

France

In 2019, 7300 festivals opened their doors according to their own formats: from the village festival to the event mobilizing a whole region... 7300, with more than one in four turned towards music, but this national mapping tells us that 12% concern books and literature.

"In several regions, some territories have made books and literature a dominant theme," the study says. Thus, nearly a third of the festivals in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence are book festivals, 29% of festivals in Cantal, a quarter in Drôme, Lot-et-Garonne, Haute-Loire, Haute-Vienne.

"These festivals are based on a strong network of public readings in rural areas, which creates a dynamic between local cultural actors. The festival moment, by nature ephemeral, is only possible here because institutions and permanent teams work on a daily basis," analyze the authors.

Nevertheless, some departments have taken over the works of the written word to make them a marker of identity: nearly a third of the festivals in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (for example: the Estivales du livre, in Manosque; the Rencontres littéraires du Teillon, in Peyroules), 29% in the Cantal (the storytelling festival Las Rapatonadas, in Aurillac), a quarter in the Drôme (the Festival de la correspondance de Grignan), Lot-et-Garonne (the Festival BD de Clairac), Haute-Loire (Lecture sous les arbres, in Chambon-sur-Lignon), Haute-Vienne (Paroles de conteurs, in Beaumont-du-Lac)...

The hypothesis formulated would be that this specialization concerns a still rural territory, where the festival "embodies a strong time and relies on a solid network of reading, reading and writing.The hypothesis formulated would be that this specialization concerns a still rural territory, where the festival "embodies a strong time andrelies on a solid, structured and active reading network, which federates the initiatives and the local actors, meshes the territory and impels a dynamics".

The festival of festivals

As the map below shows, book fairs and festivals are found throughout the region (turquoise color). However, while Île-de-France remains the region with the largest number of events (over 900, all themes combined), it is also the region where books occupy last place in terms of organized events: about 50. Yet it has the largest number of publishing houses - and Paris is still the heart of economic activity for the book industry...

It is also noticeable that the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region has the largest number of book-related events: more than 255. It is followed by Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, with over 160 events.

Probably because 39% of the events take place in the summer - the summer season being set from June 21 to September 5. And that a little sun never hurts... Paradoxically, Corsica has five.

The national mapping was carried out by France Festivals, the Center for Political and Social Studies (Cepel) and the DEPS. The study is to be found in its entirety below, in consultation and/or download:

https://actualitte.com/pdf-viewer/web/viewer.html?file=https://actualitte.com/uploads/documents/auvergne-rhone-alpes-la-region-la-plus-litteraire-de-france-64231cd56cb21861448998.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,-74,471

Source: actualitte.com


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