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Sarah Polacci, new general curator of the Book on the Place

It’s official since this Friday, January 21, the Book on the Place has a new general commissioner and it is not an unknown. Sarah Polacci takes charge of the first literary salon of the season.

The 2022 edition of Book on the Square in Nancy will have a new General Commissioner in the person of Sarah Polacci. The announcement was made this Friday, January 21, 2022 in the morning during a press video conference.

Host and reporter for France Bleu, this book lover was already a moderator of debates at the Salon. She also officiates as a literary advisor for the Saint-Dié-des-Vosges International Geography Festival.

Without a doubt, he is the right person, in the right place. Her mission, she envisages it in the continuity of the work accomplished by Françoise Rossinot then by Marie-Madeleine Rigopoulos. She says she is aware of being part of a large family and of knowing all the challenges of such a position.

For Sarah Polacci, Le Livre sur la Place must remain the great national fair for the new literary season, which it has managed to become over the years. The new commissioner will also be keen to strengthen regional roots by strengthening partnerships.

Le Livre sur la Place must also play the card of decentralization and bring reading wherever possible. Sarah Polacci thus wishes to achieve even more transversality with different places in the city. Work with neighborhoods should be strengthened.

This 2022 edition which is being prepared will also and above all be that of the Goncourts. The bicentenary of the birth of Edmond de Goncourt will be celebrated as it should be in Nancy. We have already announced the presence of Françoise Rossinot alongside Sarah Polacci and the organization of Le Livre sur la Place. On this occasion, the Book on the Square plans a traveling exhibition dedicated to Goncourt.

2021, a good vintage.

Sarah Polacci takes the controls of a ship that sails on a calm and favorable sea. The Book on the Square is fine. This is the observation made by Bertrand Masson, deputy for Culture of the Mayor of Nancy. It is the only literary fair which, despite the pandemic, has been able to maintain itself regularly for two years.

If we look at the figures a little closer, we see that 115,000 visitors walked the aisles of the marquee for 3 days last September. They bought 27,000 books. 468 authors met their readers either directly by signing their work, or through 135 organized debates and meetings. The book on the Place is also an opening towards youth. Nothing better to encourage young people to read than to make them meet authors, so 77 classes were able to welcome writers.

2022, year of Reading.

2021 has been a very good year for bookstores. Sanitary measures have often benefited books. Deprived of concerts, shows or cinema, a large part of the public has resumed reading. In 2021, small bookstores ended up doing well by welcoming more buyers. The large bookstores, on the other hand, suffered from advantages with losses of money. The year 2022 which has just begun will be the year of reading. A reading that since the summer of 2021 has been declared a great national cause. Quite logically, the Book on the Place will be part of this logic and with the aim of bringing ever more young people to take an interest in the literary world.

Waiting for September.

Two appointments should allow us to wait for the next Livre sur la Place in September. The first is set for February 3 with Nicolas Mathieu. The successful Vosges author and winner of the Prix Goncourt in 2018 will be the guest of the traditional Rencontres.

Then will come May 12, 2022, the opportunity for readers to meet another essential author, David Foenkinos.

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