By Olivia Snaije Independent bookstores in France—much like the country’s wine—can now qualify for a label indicating high quality. The long-awaited “Librairie Indépendante de Référence” (“Recommended Independent Bookshop”) label, which was part of a 2007 “plan livre” launched by former culture minister Christine Albanel, is now a reality and, as of September, 406 of France’s 3,000 independent bookstores qualified for the …
Bonus Material: France’s 406 Top Indies
By Edward Nawotka A total of 640 bookstores applied to be designated as a “Librairie Indépendante de Référence” (“Recommended Independent Bookshop”), but only 406 made the cut. The stores come from 234 municipalities, representing the full geographical range of French bookselling. (Read more about independent booksellers in France here.) DOWNLOAD: The full list of stores (in PDF format).
French Books en force
By Olivia Snaije French publishers have weathered the economic downturn comparatively well, and this fall a total of 659 French and foreign novels were published for the inescapable rentrée littéraire (literary season). Many of the books being presented here at Frankfurt have already made the long or shortlist of the numerous French literary prizes that will be announced at the …
Bringing Asia to France
By Olivia Snaije ARLES: “Asia is vast enough to be our only concern” is the motto of Editions Philippe Picquier, the French publishing house based in Arles, France. With more than 800 titles in their catalogue, the Editions Philippe Picquier has been publishing material ranging from classical and modern literature to detective stories and children’s books by Chinese, Japanese, Korean …
In Paris and Frankfurt, Cookbooks Get “Fair” Treatment
By Edward Nawotka BEIJING: “I’ve been going to the Frankfurt Book Fair since 1995 and the number of cookbooks on offer at the show has quadrupled since that time,” says Edouard Cointreau, chairman and founder of Gourmand International, speaking from Beijing, where he’s busy filming a cooking series for the Chinese Food Network. “In the US alone, cookbook sales have …
Canada’s Suite101 Writers Profit, Expanding to France, Spain
by Craig Morgan Teicher VANCOUVER, B.C.: “I sometimes see us more like a service to writers than just a publication. We want to make them successful,” said Peter Berger, the German CEO of Suite101, a company whose online magazine features articles on, well, just about everything — from choosing the best fly-fishing vest to doing PR for a small business during a …
The European Point of View on BEA
By Edward Nawotka Next year BEA will return to New York City, where it will remain at least through 2012. On the face of it, the decision to stop moving it around seems like a good idea, particularly as travel to New York is cheaper than it has been in recent memory. As a consequence, one constituency Americans may see …