The Local France

Paris Latin Quarter booksellers feel the squeeze

Sun, 07 Mar 2021 15:14:08 +0100

Battered by Covid and online sales, one of Paris's best-known book sellers Gibert Jeune is to shut up shop in the city's historic literary and intellectual heart, a stone's throw from the banks of the Seine where the family-owned firm started out over 130 years ago.

'Confessions of the flesh': French philosopher's book to finally be published

Tue, 06 Feb 2018 16:34:31 +0100

The fourth volume of Michel Foucault's ground-breaking "The History of Sexuality" will be published Friday, 34 years after the death of the French philosopher.

10 of the best novels about life in rural France (apart from A Year in Provence)

Fri, 19 Jan 2018 17:09:51 +0100

We asked some writers to name the best novels about life in rural France apart from the classic A Year in Provence. Here's what they came up with. (And no, there are no books about Paris here.)

Why French children's books might keep grown ups awake at night

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 11:22:22 +0100

Children's books in France aren’t afraid to take on dark, political and disturbing subjects, whether we’re afraid to read them to youngsters is another matter.

Parisian book lover fined for leaving novel on the street for another reader

Fri, 17 Feb 2017 17:40:51 +0100

No good deed goes unpunished it seems, as one publicly-spirited Parisian recently learnt when she was hit with a €68 fine for her 'literary littering'.

The best books about Paris you need to read

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 09:51:43 +0100

Here are some of the best books ever written about about Paris, according to authors in France. How many have you read?

Novel about killer nanny wins France's top literary gong

Thu, 03 Nov 2016 14:52:20 +0100

Moroccan-born Leila Slimani won France's top literary prize, the Goncourt, on Thursday with a novel guaranteed to "scare the wits out of parents".

Harry Potter fans to open 'Hogwarts' at French chateau

Mon, 31 Oct 2016 15:06:52 +0100

Harry Potter may be quintessentially British, but it will be France that plays host to a real-life school of witchcraft and wizardry opening next year.

Finally! French fans go mad for Harry Potter translation

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 11:42:04 +0200

French Harry Potter fans queued up to be the first to get their hands on 'Harry Potter et l'Enfant Maudit', the translated version of the 'Cursed Child' play.

Harry Potter play in English tops France's best-seller list

Wed, 10 Aug 2016 19:41:37 +0200

The world's best-loved wizard has bewitched youngsters in France, where the script of the new Harry Potter play has topped the bestseller list... in English.

Paris bookshop to print books on demand 'in minutes'

Fri, 11 Mar 2016 16:15:08 +0100

A bookshop in Paris’ Latin quarter will offer the opportunity to have any book from its collection printed in just a matter of minutes.

French mogul sells books for AIDs research

Sat, 12 Dec 2015 11:30:25 +0100

Fashion mogul Pierre Berge raised millions for AIDS research on Friday as the first part of his renowned library went under the hammer in Paris.

Sales of books on Islam rocket in France

Sat, 04 Apr 2015 13:42:42 +0200

Books on Islam are selling out in France after the deadly extremist attacks in the capital have raised uncomfortable questions about Europe's fastest-growing religion.

Book-making machines star at French fair

Mon, 23 Mar 2015 17:25:00 +0100

Choose a PDF file on the screen and five minutes later a book, printed and bound with a proper cover, spits out. Science fiction? Not if you were at the Paris Book Fair this weekend.

Apple lifts ban on French book with nude cover

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 11:10:00 +0100

US tech giant Apple has reportedly backed down on its decision to ban a French book because of its cover which featured an image of a nude woman. The embargo had caused ire among the book's French publishers.

US writer wins top French literary prize

Wed, 06 Nov 2013 18:55:34 +0100

American author Richard Ford's novel "Canada" about a boy whose parents rob a bank on Wednesday won the Femina Prize for best foreign novel, one of France's top literary awards.

GALLERY: The ten best books about France

Tue, 23 Jul 2013 18:31:00 +0200

Looking for a good book about France to read this summer? Look no further. The Local has asked authors who have written best-selling books about France and staff from Anglo bookshops in the country to name their favourite reads. See below if you agree with their choices.

French minister: Amazon 'destroys' bookshops

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:33:00 +0200

French culture minister Aurelie Filippetti slammed online retail giant Amazon as a "destroyer" of bookshops on Tuesday. It's another example of the government's fraught relationship with US multinationals like Amazon, Google and Apple.

Ex-minister sues over Trierweiler affair claim

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:55:46 +0200

A French former minister on Monday asked a court to award him €140,000 damages over a claim in a best-selling book that he had an affair with Valerie Trierweiler, the glamorous girlfriend of President François Hollande.

Austerity tax could 'kill off' French bookstores

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:53:00 +0200

France's small bookstores have survived the rise of big chains, Amazon and digital books, but many fear a sales tax rise, part of the debt-saddled government's austerity plans, could push them out of business.