Created in 2017 by the Ministry of Culture to celebrate the pleasure of reading in a festive way, the Night of Reading has been able to conquer, over its editions, all audiences and ensure a popular success. In 2021, the event will be transformed into “Nuits de la lecture” to offer, from January 21 to 24, a four-day expanded program with a highlight on Saturday 23. Libraries and bookstores, schools, universities, museums, cultural centres, etc. will propose, in line with the health context, animations, meetings with authors, competitions, visits and other treasure hunts.
«Re-reading the world», theme of the 5e publishing
The theme of this 5e “Re-reading the World” will be an invitation to reinvent and re-enchant the world, to travel motionless. It will allow you to discover other horizons and dream of other adventures through reading. That the animations are proposed in situ or at a distance, they will highlight reading in all its dimensions. Re-reading the world also means connecting the world.
Of events in situ and digital
“Physical” events, organized in compliance with health guidelines and digital animations will be on the program everywhere in France and in about twenty countries elsewhere in the world. Particularly rich and inventive this year, the digital component will offer readings broadcast on social networks, interactive exhibitions, meetings with authors online…
Questions for a reader, a quiz about the book
To enrich the digital component of the Nuits de la Lecture programme, the French Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the Bibliothèque nationale de France - Gallica, theOn-line answers Eurêkoi, coordinated by the Public Information Library and the National Book Centre, has developed an original quiz on books and reading. The public will be invited to test their knowledge in a fun way on the event’s website in mid-January. Players will be able to navigate through five themes: «The ninth art» for the National Year of Comics, «the night», «the city», «literature and other arts» and «around the world», there will be something for everyone! Apprentices or experts, two levels will be available for each quiz. To learn while having fun, explanations and anecdotes will be displayed when the answers are revealed.
Rich and varied programming to highlight all facets of the book chain
From 21 to 24 January, on the occasion of the Nuits de la Lecture, hundreds of events will be held bringing together authors who carry the literature. The program includes a virtual meeting with Maylis de Kerangal about the audio book, the presence of Isabelle Carré at the Alexis de Tocqueville library in Caen or that of Gaëlle Nohant at the Saint-Raphaël media library. Animations to celebrate the pleasure of reading will take place in thousands of sites across France with, for example, the reading of surrealist texts by a member of the Comédie-Française at the Bibliothèque nationale de France - site François Mitterrand or the holding of a literary cabaret around the writings of drunkenness at the National and University Library of Strasbourg. Visits to exceptional places related to the book universe are also planned. They will be an opportunity to discover, among other things, the sumptuous reading room of the Sorbonne Interuniversity Library, the old collections of the Jacques Chirac Heritage Library in Colmar or to witness a digital performance in the cloister classified as the historical monuments of the Maubuisson Abbey. Finally, many events will be organized to raise awareness among the so-called “distant” readers. Thus, at the Maison d'Arrêt d'Épinal or the Centre Pénitentiaire de Fresnes, there will be readings of excerpts from Romanesque texts or comic book discovery workshops in connection with the National Year of Comics. A programme selection will be updated regularly and available here.
Supporting the 2021 Reading Nights
The Association des bibliothécaires de France, the Association des bibliothécaires départementaux, the Association des directeurs des bibliothèques municipales et des groupements intercommunaux des villes de France, the Syndicat de la librairie française, the Association internationale des libraires francophones, the Société des Gens de Lettres, the Syndicat national de l'édition, UNESCO, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Centre national du livre, the Bibliothèque publique d'information, the Association of Directors and Management Staff of University Libraries and Documentation, the Association Art + University + Culture, Unesco, RATP, Phenix Stories, Insert, France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde, TV5 Monde, Gulli, L'Express and 20 minutes.
All information about: nightreading.fr and on #NuitsLecture