Paris Book Festival kicks off amid Grasset publishing controversy

Paris Book Festival kicks off amid Grasset publishing controversy Culture

To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.

Accept Manage my choices

One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.

Try again

12:24

Issued on: 17/04/2026 - 16:22

12:24 min Share Play (12:24 min) From the show Reading time 1 min

The annual Paris Book Festival is honouring Iceland this year, and Icelandic author Jón Kalman Stefánsson will be doing a book signing. He tells us about his latest novel, "Celestial Bodies at the Edge of the World", which sheds light on a little-known dark chapter in Icelandic history. He also tells us why Icelandic literature is booming in France.

Read moreTurmoil at publisher owned by French billionaire Bolloré sparks exodus of top authors

We also talk about a controversy that overshadowed the festival's opening: the firing of the CEO of French publishing house Grasset and a walk-out by over 100 authors against Grasset's billionaire owner Vincent Bolloré, who is close to the far right in France.

By: Dheepthika LAURENT Laura DI BIASIO Amélia MARADAS Loïc CHALAVON Magali FAURE Advertising Related keywords

• Literature
• culture
• Iceland
• Paris Book Fair