Audrey Azoulay, Minister of Culture and Communication, welcomes the success of the first edition of the Nuit de la lecture held on Saturday, January 14. Created at the initiative of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, and conceived as a moment of popular sharing, festive and federating around the book, it met in libraries and bookstores a great success.
Reading opens us to the world, to others. It is both knowledge, freedom and a first step towards the imagination. In this sense, promoting equal access to reading means nurturing progress and citizenship. It was the whole meaning of the Night of Reading that brought the book and reading to the fore for one evening.
The event mobilized libraries and bookstores with nearly 1,500 events celebrating the richness of these places of life and reading, in a new light, at an unusual time. More than 250,000 people were able to enjoy the entertainment, readings in pajamas, literary cafés, concerts, unusual strolls or «speedbookings» offered in places open until late at night for the occasion.
Audrey Azoulay would like to thank all the actors of the book and the reading who have mobilized strongly for this first edition by welcoming a diverse and numerous audience, as well as the authors, Storytellers, dancers, actors who were warmly associated and made it possible to make words live for a Night.
Many authors have committed themselves as sponsors of the event: Abd al Malik, Adelaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre, Leïla Slimani, Victor Coutard and Pooya Abbasian, Jean-Paul Didierlaurent, Anna Dubosc, Timothée de Fombelle, Magyd Cherfi, Marie Modiano, Véronique Ovaldé or Karine Tuil.
The Minister also wishes to warmly thank the partners of the operation – the Association des bibliothécaires de France, the Association des directeurs de bibliothèques départementales de prêt, the Syndicat de la librairie française, the Syndicat national de l’édition, the Société des gens de lettres, the Association des directeurs des bibliothèques des grandes villes, the Bibliothèque publique d'information, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Centre National du livre, the RATP, PhenixDigital, Toute l'histoire, Radio France and France télévisions, as well as the agency Mindset – which allowed the success of this first edition.
SOME EXAMPLES OF PARTICIPATION FIGURES
In Paris and Île-de-France:
The Bibliothèque nationale de France, Richelieu-Louvois site in Paris: 7,000 participants
Public Information Library in Paris: 1,700 participants
The Robert Sabatier Library in Paris: 100 participants
The bookshop of the associated publishers in Paris: 50 participants
The bookshop Les Nouveautés in Paris: 500 participants
The Françoise Sagan media library in Paris: 350 participants
The Marguerite Yourcenar media library in Paris: 350 participants
The Paris music library: 130 participants (maximum capacity)
The Clichy Media Library (Hauts-de-Seine): 210 participants
The Gérard Billy Intercommunal Media Library in Lagny-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne): 150 participants
The Flora Tristan media library in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine (Seine-Saint-Denis): 200 participants (maximum capacity)
The Anna Langfus Intercommunal Library in Sarcelles (Val-d'Oise): 100 participants
The central library of Versailles (Yvelines): 60 participants (maximum capacity)
Regionally:
La médiathèque de Moulins Communauté (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Allier): 800 participants
Centre-Ville de Grenoble library (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Isère): 200 participants (maximum capacity)
Part-Dieu Library in Lyon (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Rhône): 4,210 participants
Joigny Media Library (Burgundy-Franche-Comté, Yonne): 150 participants
The Champs-Plaisants library in Sens (Burgundy-Franche-Comté, Yonne): 110 participants
The François Mitterrand Media Library – The Capuchins in Brest (Brittany, Finistère): 250 participants
The Champs Libres library in Rennes (Brittany, Ille-et-Vilaine): 450 participants
Municipal library associated with Neuvy-le-Roi (Centre-Val de Loire, Indre-et-Loire): 50 participants
Tours central library (Centre-Val de Loire, Indre-et-Loire): 450 participants
La Ferté-Saint-Aubin Municipal Library (Centre-Val de Loire, Loiret): 150 participants
Afa Media Library (Corsica, South Corsica): 55 participants
Library of Saint Lucia of Porto-Vecchio in Zonza (Corsica, South Corsica): 80 participants (maximum capacity)
Kléber bookshop in Strasbourg (Grand Est, Bas-Rhin): 50 participants
The Media Library/ Cultural Space of Bouzonville (Grand Est, Moselle): 120 participants
The Metz library network (Grand Est, Moselle): 250 participants
The intercommunal multimedia library of Épinal (Grand Est, Vosges): 750 participants
Man Vévé Public Library in Mana (Guyana, Guyana): 200 participants
The Jean Macé media library in Château-Thierry (Hauts-de-France, Aisne): 120 participants
Dunkerque Centre Library (Hauts-de-France, North): 50 participants
The Antoine Chanut media library in Creil (Hauts-de-France, Oise): 500 participants
The agglomeration library of Saint-Omer (Hauts-de-France, Pas-de-Calais): 500 participants
Louis Aragon Library in Amiens (Hauts-de-France, Somme): 120 participants
The Tampon Media Library (The Meeting): 330 participants
Champ-Borne Library in Saint-André (La Réunion): 200 participants
Leconte de Lisle Media Library in Saint-Paul (La Réunion): 250 participants (maximum capacity)
Schoelcher Library in Fort de France (Martinique): 80 participants
Alexis de Tocqueville Library in Caen (Normandy, Calvados): 5000 participants
Avranches Intercommunal Library (Normandy, Manche): 320 participants
The library of Saint-Saëns (Normandy, Seine-Maritime): 250 participants
The Royan Media Library (Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Charente-Maritime): 70 participants
The Mollat bookshop in Bordeaux (Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Gironde): 80 participants
The bookshop l'Autre Rive in Toulouse (Occitanie, Haute-Garonne): 80 participants
The Hérault Departmental Media Library, Pierresvives Departmental Domain in Montpellier (Occitanie, Hérault): 320 participants
The Nantes Media Library Network (Pays de la Loire, Loire-Atlantique): 1000 participants
Louis Aragon du Mans Media Library (Pays de la Loire, Sarthe): 300 participants
La Parenthèse bookshop in Sables-d'Olonne (Pays de la Loire, Vendée): 50 participants
The Digne-les-Bains (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Alpes-de-haute-Provence) Intercommunal Media Library: 150 participants
The library Méjanes - Nef ouest in Aix-en-Provence (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur,Bouches-du-Rhône): 100 participants
Nelson Mandela Media Library in Gardanne (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Bouches-du-Rhône): 300 participants (maximum capacity).