Our first Festival du Livre de Paris

CALEC took part in the 2022 Festival du Livre de Paris hosted at Grand Palais Ephémère in front of the Eiffel Tower. The Festival proposed a new formula over three days by programming meetings, concerts, exhibitions and workshops. 1,000 authors, 1,200 signing sessions, 300 publishers, 200 book talks… The new format, which featured India as highlighted guest, was a great success and attracted about 90,000 visitors. The majority of meetings were full and the aisles were always full. This edition, free for the first time, marks a reunion with curious readers in a festive and warm atmosphere.

CALEC was able to present most of its TBR Books titles, thanks in part to our ongoing partnership with Lightning Source France and Hachette Livre Distribution which has made them available in France. Featured titles included Pareils mais différents by Agathe Laurent and Sabine Landolt, French all around us, edited by Kathleen Stein-Smith and Fabrice Jaumont who was also with us to sign his book, The Bilingual Revolution. Also featured were newly released books, such as Vickie Frémont’s Le Projet Colibri, Valerie Sun’s Navigating Dual Immersion, Sheila DeCosse’s Rose Alone, Jane Ross’s Two Centuries of French Education in New York, Claire Lerognon and Linda Ashour’s The Heart of an Artichoke, as well as many books from our back catalog. Of note, our multilingual children’s books were a huge success as visitors were keenly impressed by our wide range of languages offered, and wanted to show their kids what the books felt like in another language. Deana Sobel Lederman’s Masks, Rainbows, and Ice Cream trilogy, which is available in 15 languages, was a big success, and so were Eunjoo Feaster and Mary Chi-Wi Kim’s Korean New Year with Grand Ma, and Mark Hansen’s Math for All, which are soon to be available in many languages.

What better way, in the exceptional setting of Grand Palais Ephémère, to celebrate multilingual books like the ones we love to publish. Next year’s edition will again be held at this beautiful venue on April 21, 22 and 23, 2023 with Italy as the featured country. Time for us to offer more books in Italian and release more children’s books! As it turns out, this is exactly what we are about to do with Teboho Moja’s Keitu, Kene, and Kaelo trilogy, Dounia Stewart-McNeel’s Digestive Fun trilogy, Christine Hélot and Patricia Velasco’s Marimba, Adrienne Mei Irving’s Franglais Soup, and The Word of the Month by Benjamin Levy, Jim Sheppard, and Andrew Arnon who were with us at the fair to celebrate our first participation.