Paris (France) (AFP) – Culture Minister Rachida Dati denounced Tuesday the "pressures" suffered by bookstores after acts of "intimidation and damage" recorded in recent months, during the presentation conference of the Paris Book Fair (April 17-19).

Published on: 02/10/2026 - 4:43 p.m.

“I say it again: violence has no place anywhere and certainly not in places of culture,” declared the minister, who should soon present her resignation from the government in order to devote herself to her campaign for the municipal elections in Paris.

Acid tags, damage, cyber-harassment and visits accompanied by barely veiled threats: in Paris as elsewhere in France, independent bookstores have suffered intimidation campaigns in recent months. The profession particularly points to small far-right groups.

In an article published in the press in October, book professionals denounced the proliferation of harassment and even physical threats.

Bookstores had been targeted in the Paris suburbs (Rosny-sous-Bois, Vincennes) or in Lille, Rennes, Nantes, Périgueux, Lyon or Marseille.

“The book is the object of long-term reflection. Booksellers are on the front line: they have and must maintain a central role in the debate and circulation of ideas,” Ms. Dati underlined on Tuesday.

The Paris Book Fair, which will once again be held in the Grand Palais, where it welcomed 114,000 visitors in 2025, nearly 43% of whom were under 25 years old, will this year put the spotlight on travel and comics, after the cancellation of the Angoulême Festival this year.

Some 1,200 authors will be present, as well as 450 publishing houses.

Only Hachette Livre will be missing: the French number one publishing company, a subsidiary of Lagardère controlled by conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, announced at the end of January the holding of its own festival, in March in Paris, to celebrate its bicentenary.

Nearly 50 publishing houses will be present during this event, including Grasset, Le Livre de Pocket, Larousse and Fayard, as well as around twenty partner publishers, such as Albin Michel.

Furthermore, the American e-commerce giant Amazon announced Tuesday in a press release that it would be a “partner” of the Paris Book Fair, building on its “25 years of serving readers and books in France”.

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.