From May 18 to 29, the Live Literature festival (formerly the International Conference on the Novel), organized by Villa Gillet, will deploy a resolutely international program in Lyon and its metropolis, bringing together more than 80 authors, artists, translators and thinkers from all continents.
Installed in around twenty places – from the Théâtre des Célestins to the SUBS, the municipal library of Lyon Part-Dieu, the Théâtre de la Croix-Rousse and the Lyon opera house – the festival offers a series of conversations, major interviews, readings and performances, at the intersection of literature and issues contemporary selection, from a program that is still as dense.
The 10 highlights of the 2026 edition:
- Writing in the heart – interview with Nathacha Appanah
The Franco-Mauritian author looks back on her career and her writing work, around Night in the Heart (Gallimard, 2025), dedicated to the trajectories of women confronted with domestic violence. The interview will be punctuated by readings.Monday May 18, 2026, 7 p.m. – Théâtre de la Croix-Rousse - Capturing these moments when history changes – interview with Raphaela Edelbauer
The Austrian author evokes The Immeasurables (Métailié, 2025), novel set in Vienna in 1914, at the moment when a world is shifting between war and peace.
Mardi 19 mai 2026, 19 heures – Goethe-Institut Lyon - Listening to book professionals – literature in the city
Afternoon of meetings bringing together publishers, translators and heads of institutions around the international circulation of texts, book museums and new editorial formats.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026, 2 p.m. – Les SUBS - America, Between Light and Darkness – with Dinaw Mengestu, Bret Anthony Johnston, Donald Ray Pollock and Ben Shattuck
Four authors question contemporary fractures in the United States through their recent novels, between social disillusionment, racial and imaginary tensions, from the Midwest to New England.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026, 7 p.m. – Les SUBS - Writing on the edge of the world – conversation with Carys Davies and Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Two writers explore extreme territories – 17th-century Iceland, 19th-century Hebrides – where meeting others transforms lives and languages.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026, 9 p.m. – Les SUBS - Masterclass with Louisa Yousfi
The author of Stay barbaric et The great method (La Fabrique) offers a time for discussion on the writing process, from the birth of an idea to its shaping.
Thursday May 21, 2026, 2 p.m. – ENSBA Lyon - The metamorphoses of the strange – Franco-Czech cross-readings
Evening of readings and conversations with Zuzana ŘÃhová, Lenka Elbe, Magdaléna Platzová, Étienne Kern and Ismaël Jude, around the contemporary Czech imagination and new French voices.
Jeudi 21 mai 2026, 19 h 30 – Les SUBS - Masterclass with Seynabou Sonko – from one genre to another
A masterclass devoted to the plurality of forms of writing, from songs to novels and screenplays, based on the author’s residency experience.
Friday May 22, 2026, 10 a.m. – The SUBS - Reading the era in the mirror of fiction: around Philip Roth – interview with Marc Weitzmann
From The Wild Part (Grasset, 2025), Marc Weitzmann returns to the work of Philip Roth and his insight into contemporary America and its tensions.
Mardi 26 mai 2026, 20 h 30 – Opéra national de Lyon - Reconnecting with the epic, between Senegal and Egypt – interview with David Diop
The author of Où leans against the sky (Julliard, 2025) unfolds a fresco between West Africa and ancient Egypt, mixing epic tale, myth and quest for origins.
Vendredi 29 mai 2026, 18 h 30 – Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
