The Nice Book Festival opened this Friday with the Baie des Anges Prize for Andreï Makine.
Jimmy Boursicot and Laurence Lucchesi Published on 05/30/2025 at 9:15 p.m., updated on 05/30/2025 at 9:15 p.m.
Summer heat, sparse aisles in the early hours and crowded just after returning from lunch. Writers from the "traditional" literature sphere, from the children's, young adult , new romance , and comics sections. Not to mention the many essayists focused on politics and regional writers. Conferences, book signings, but also screenings and exhibitions. All the ingredients required for a great edition of the Nice Book Festival, whose theme is "Setting sail," were present from the opening this Friday morning.
By mid-afternoon, it was already time to make choices: the popular Marie Drucker at the Théâtre L'Artistique, the queen of thrillers Sonja Delzongle at the debate space, or the winner of the RLT-Lire 2025 prize Camille Laurens and the honorary president of the Festival this year, Allain Bougrain-Dubourg and his Dictionnaire amoureux de la vie sauvage ?
Just before this welcome traffic jam, many visitors converged on the tent in the Albert 1er Gardens where the official opening of the Festival took place. This was an opportunity for Mayor Christian Estrosi to call for the release of Boualem Sansal. Honorary President of the previous edition, the Franco-Algerian writer was sentenced to five years in prison in Algeria for "undermining national unity, insulting a constituted body, practices likely to harm the national economy, and possession of videos and publications threatening the security and stability of the country."
"This prize has a special resonance for Russians"
In the process, Andrei Makine, a member of the Académie française since February, received the Prix Nice Baies des Anges for Prisonnier du rêve écarlate (Grasset). His novel traces half a century of history in the Soviet Union and France, through the wanderings of Lucien Baert, a young communist. "This fine Prize has a special resonance for Russians. More than a century ago, Nice gave refuge to thousands and thousands of Russians, to people who had lost everything after the Revolution and the civil war," assured the native of Divnogorsk, Russia, naturalized French in 1996, a year after his Prix Goncourt for Le Testament français .
Prisoner of the Scarlet Dream, Andrei Makine. Grasset. 416 pages. 23 euros.
Nice Book Festival, this weekend, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m., Albert I Gardens. Free.
Big day ahead this Saturday at the Nice Book Festival. Here is our selection of events not to be missed: - 11 a.m., Debate Space (Jardin Albert 1er), meeting with Philippe Besson about Vous parler de mon fils (Julliard). - 11:30 a.m., Debate Space (Jardin Albert 1er), meeting with Valentin Musso, Voici demain (Julliard). - 12 p.m., debate about L'or de la nuit with Irène Frain (Authors' Forum, Jardin Albert 1er). - 12 p.m., Debate Space (Jardin Albert 1er), meeting with Mathias Malzieu, L'homme qui écouterait le cœurs des chats (Albin Michel). - 2 p.m., Yitzhak Rabin Stage (Jardin Albert 1er), meeting with Sylvain Tesson, Les piliers de la mer (Albin Michel). - 2 p.m., music lecture Anita Conti, an oceanic life (L'Artistique) by Catel Muller and José-Louis Bocquet. The show retraces the life of Anita Conti through Catel's drawings, illustrating her key stages as an oceanographer and pioneer of the marine school. As a counterpoint, images filmed by Anita Conti in 1959 are projected, accompanied on the piano by Gwendal Giguelay. - 2 p.m., Les Éveillés, les Ressurcités with Eric Giacometti and Jacques Ravenne, debates at the Authors' Forum (Jardin Albert 1er). - 3:30 p.m., Scène Masséna (Jardin Albert 1er), discussion with Anne Goscinny, Mille manières d'aimer (Grasset). - 3:30 p.m., Espace Débats (Jardin Albert 1er), discussion with Eric Fottorino with Des gens sensibles (Gallimard). - 4 p.m., at L'Artistique, meeting with Christine Angot about La nuit sur commande (Stock). - 4 p.m., Yitzhak Rabin stage (Jardin Albert 1er), meeting with Kamel Daoud about Houris (Prix Goncourt 2024, Gallimard). - 4 p.m., Les Renaissances with Agnès Martin-Lugand (debates at the Authors' Forum, Jardin Albert 1er). - 4:30 p.m., Le upheaval du monde with Gilles Kepel at the Authors' Forum debates (Jardin Albert 1er).
- 5 p.m., The Child Who Saved the Earth with Didier van Cauwelaert at the Authors' Forum debate (Jardin Albert 1er).
Var-Matin
