‘Le Boekenbal’ kicks off literary campaign in France

Following the success of the Netherlands and Flanders as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Dutch Foundation for Literature and Flanders Literature will be concentrating on France over the next two years: the second biggest book market in Europe and the fifth biggest in the world.

With an intensive campaign entitled Les Phares du Nord, the two literature foundations aim to achieve substantial growth in the number of literary translations into French as well as greater visibility for Dutch-language authors in France. The starting shot of the campaign will be fired this coming Thursday, 1 June, during ‘Le Boekenbal’ in Paris.

The large and internationally oriented French book market has always had plenty of room for translations. Important publishers such as Gallimard and Actes Sud (whose director is the new French minister of culture, Françoise Nyssen) have prominent Dutch-language lists.

Les Phares du Nord will begin in Paris on Thursday 1 June with ‘Le Boekenbal’, a festive evening in the Atelier Néerlandais with performances by cabaret artist Freek de Jonge, Dutch poet laureate Ester Naomi Perquin, artist Olfa ben Ali, writer Abdelkader Benali and French historian Christophe de Voogd. A prelude to the book ball will be the festive opening of the exhibition ‘Théâtre de l’humanité’, with work by Dutch photographers Koos Breukel, Sander Troelstra and Bart Koetsier. The book ball itself is organized by the Dutch embassy in Paris and will bring influential guests from the French cultural and literary worlds together around Dutch culture.