321 French novels, including 74 first novels, and 145 translated novels. The literary season will be the least prolific of the century, with publishers playing the moderation card in the face of a hesitant book market, according to the specialist magazine Livres Hebdo. For its special literary back-to-school issue to be published on August 1, the professional magazine has identified 466 novels scheduled between mid-August and the end of October.
This is almost 5% less than the 490 of the previous year, and a third less than the high point set in 2010, when the sector had reached a record of 701 new products. “The decline in the number of publications continues,” notes the magazine on its website. It is thus returning to levels that were those of the mid-1990s.
This return to school has, as usual, its stars. Among them, we can note the names of Amélie Nothomb, Claire Berest, Pascal Quignard, Sorj Chalandon, Serge Joncour, Éric Reinhardt, Laurent Binet, Thomas Gunzig, Agnès Desarthe or even Maria Pourchet.
The literary season is a well-established French tradition, where the most renowned publishers place titles which compete for the autumn grand prizes (let us mention the Goncourt, the Renaudot, the Femina), while the lesser known hope to benefit from the attendance of bookstores at that time.