The Passeurs de Livres festival takes place in Alès from Thursday June 4 to Saturday June 6, 2026. For this 5th edition, the book fair, moved to Avenue Carnot, will bring together 120 authors, more than 70 publishers and 10 associations around the theme “Difficult freedoms”. Meetings, exhibitions, workshops, dictations, screenings, a republican banquet and youth activities will punctuate the weekend in several places in the city.
“Freedom emerges as an elusive horizon: between autonomy and responsibility, between individual desires and collective constraints. How can we think about it today?” It is around this question that the discussions of the 5th edition of Passeur de livres this weekend will revolve, with an exploration of the tensions between commitment, resistance and freedom, through fiction and the human sciences.
A redesigned and accessible book fair
The show will be located in the Gardon covered car park, facing Square Arnaud-Beltrame. Open from Thursday June 4, 2 p.m., to Saturday June 6 at 7 p.m., it will offer a space dedicated to 3-10 year olds, run by the Graine de Lire association. Children will be able to discover the pleasure of books, nursery rhymes and picture books in a cozy and secure reading corner, supervised by passionate volunteers.
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Several partner locations will extend the festival to the capital of the Cévennes: the Alphonse-Daudet media library, Le Capitole, the judicial court, the Alès arenas, the Cazot room, Ciné Planet, the Les Bancs publics social center, the Domitys residence and the PAB museum
The program, per day:
The first morning will be devoted to professional meetings around the book chain, with talks on the ecology of books, the place of human sciences in media libraries, and a spotlight on Éditions Alcide, a Némoise house specializing in history and photography.
• Romain Fiore
At 2:30 p.m., the covered parking lot, transformed into a book fair, will host Rachid Santaki’s major dictation, preceded by a book release. The awards ceremony will take place at 4 p.m., followed by a signing session until 6 p.m. At the same time, the Micro Folies truck will host artistic workshops for young people from the Association Avenir Jeunesse and CABA.
While two conferences, at the book fair and at the Capitole, will launch the spirit of reflection of the festival, the republican banquet at the Cazot space, organized by the Alès Agglo Arts et Histoire association at 8 p.m. will take place in “moment of secular and republican fraternity” (réservations ICI).
Complete Thursday program HERE.
At 2 p.m., the Cabri Jeunes Prize will be presented at the Capitole. Four works are in competition, defended by high school students from Alès. The day will continue with a handful of round tables across the city.The inauguration of the show will take place at 5 p.m. in the town hall, before the inaugural evening at the Cinéplanet from 7 p.m. Before reading ‘La petite cuisine du desert’, the president of the festival Lionnel Astier will host a dialogue with Jean Lebrun, around his show Elise, the wrath of Godwhich questions the links between revolt, faith and freedom.
Full Friday program HERE.
The show will transform into a giant conference throughout Saturday with around fifteen debates and discussions on various subjects linked to freedoms in the four corners of the city. Jean Racine’s college students will also sign their brochureDon’t touch my planet during the day.
Complete Saturday program HERE.
The festival will continue at the Pierre-André-Benoit museum-library, with activities and exhibitions, including the works of Pat Fimo, artist and author, including the seriesMultiverseThere will be an exhibition on Avenue Carnot.
/2026/06/07/6a25a23ea8487202904775.jpg "Coupe du monde 2026 : lEspagne assume son statut de favorite, malgré plusieurs interrogations")
