The Independent Bookstore Festival highlights the cultural smugglers who are booksellers, their profession, their values and their passion for books.
On the occasion of its 23rdth Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, Minister of Culture, today went to meet with the booksellers of The Catcher in the 18th Paris borough, one of 480 independent French-language bookstores participating in this operation.
In the aftermath of World Book and Copyright Day, this event is also an opportunity to celebrate the 40e anniversary of the law on the price of books, known as the Lang law. This law not only consolidated the economic model of bookstores and publishing houses, but also preserved their incredible diversity. This edition of the Fête de la librairie indépendant is an opportunity to demonstrate the commitment of the book industry to this law and to pay tribute to the passionate commitment of Jack Lang, Minister of Culture from 1981 to 1986 and from 1988 to 1993.
Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin reaffirms, on this occasion, the Government’s constant support for independent bookstores as well as the entire book sector. Since the beginning of the health crisis, bookshops have benefited from both transversal measures to support businesses and from a specific support plan implemented by the National Book Centre (CNL) and the Regional Cultural Affairs Directorates. The State has also taken charge of their shipping costs during the 2th confinement.
As part of the recovery plan, the arts and cultural education program “Young people in bookshops” will also be generalized, inviting middle and high school students to discover the book chain and in particular the role of local bookshops. The latter will also benefit from book purchases for public library collections that will be assisted by the CNL.
Thus, the State has been able to be at the side of bookshops throughout the past year, during which the French showed how attached they were to these places of culture so singular.