Amélie Nothomb, Gaël Faye, Mélissa Da Costa… Obstacles in sight in bookstores

Other heavyweights this fall, Maylis de Kerangal's “Jour de resac,” a police investigation in Le Havre, and Kamel Daoud's “Houris,” about violence in Algeria, are out Aug. 15.

32nd consecutive literary comeback for Amélie Nothomb

On August 21 and 22 there was an avalanche: in just two days around a hundred novels were published. There's the inevitable Amélie Nothomb's The Impossible Return, a travelogue in Japan. For the Belgian, this is her 32nd consecutive literary year, “out of habit, almost out of superstition,” says her publisher Albin Michel. The record is not about to be broken.

Familiar names to readers who are fans of literary news return, such as Claudie Gallay (“Les Jardins de Torcello”), Abel Quentin (“Cabane”), Maud Ventura (“Famous”), Philippe Jaenada (“La casualness est un bien “). beautiful thing”) or Emma Becker (“Le Mal Jolie”).

These 100 or so titles arriving in 48 hours, 'yeah, that's a lot. Maybe a little too many of the same authors, when there are so many promising writers we don't talk about enough”, we point at La Nouvelle Librairie, in Orléans. “We highlight our favorites. Our back-to-school focus is on the books we've read that inspire us because our customers are looking for personalized advice.”

“Drastic drop” in exits

In June, the French Union of Booksellers asked publishers for “a drastic reduction” in the number of releases. This retreat is underway, albeit slowly. The 2024 literary season, from August to October, consists of 459 novels, the lowest total in the 21st century, compared to 466 in 2023 and 490 in 2022.

“We all want not to publish too much,” argued Editions Stock chief Manuel Carcassonne in June during a presentation of the literary season with the magazine “Libres Hebdo”.

And rightly so, added his colleague from Editions Grasset, Olivier Nora, “know that a first novel in France today sells around 800 copies” on average.

At the beginning of August, the daily “Les Échos” carried testimonies from publishers of foreign novels who are struggling even more. “Certain up-and-coming genres, such as manga or romance, sometimes take up more shelf space at the expense of foreign literature that sells even less,” noted Actes Sud's editorial director, Manuel Tricoteaux.

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