Book Around the Corner

Long time readers of this blog know that Quais du Polar in a crime fiction festival set in Lyon. This year, it’s the 20^th anniversary of the festival and it will take place from April 5^th to April 7^th. Let’s hope the weather gods are with us and that rain will stay away.

Quais du Polar is a literary festival that expanded its horizons and now caters to anything related to crime fiction.

You’ll have the usual panels, talks with writers and book signing booths. But you’ll also get music-and-literature hours, literary cruises on the Saône river, crime fiction games in various places of the town, painting-and-literature tours at the art museum, visit of the school for police commissaires and their NICS lab, conferences done by judges and lawyers at the courthouse and crime fiction films at the Institut Lumière, where the cinema was invented. Each year, the festival has new ideas for entertainment and knowledge about crime and crime fiction. This year, there’s even a literary brunch.

Police and justice are also involved in the festival. Policemen, experts, judges, and lawyers talk about their work. They give us a glimpse of real crime solving and subsequent trials. Imagine that a team of CSI policemen have turned into playwrights, actors and director: they have created a theater play about CSI that shows how they work. It’s already sold out but I would have loved to see that.

There’s also a side festival for literature professionals who work around crime fiction. (publishers, translators…)

The program is out and the number of events you can attend is mind-blowing. 135 authors are invited and will participate to panels and book signings. Check them out here. Festival goers could book some events in advance and that’s what I did. I also checked out the program to outline what I’ll do during these three days. Beside buying books at the giant bookstore, of course. 😊

Here’s what I intend to do during these three days.

Friday.

At 11 am, I volunteered to be interviewed by middle school students. They’ll ask questions about my time at the festival. It should be fun.

At 5:30 pm, I hope I’ll get into the panel about the US presidential election. The writers involved in this discussion are S.A. Cosby, John Grisham, Gabino Iglesias and Dennis Lehane.

At 6:50 pm, I have ticket to play a “mystery game” at the art museum. Writers will be scattered in various rooms in the museum and we’ll have to solve the riddles that authors have written for us.

At 7:45 pm, my friend and I will attend a conference by specialists from Interpol who fight against art trafficking. It sounds fascinating.

Saturday

At 10 am, there’s a panel about the importance of places and the atmosphere of books. Franck Bouysse, Cécile Cabannac, Joseph Macé-Scaron and Piergiogio Pulixi will discuss how places become a character in their books.

At 2 pm, Dennis Lehane will give an interview at the beautiful Théâtre des Célestins.

At 4 pm, there’s a panel about French crime fiction from 2005 to 2024 with Hannelore Cayre, Didier Daeninckx, Nicolas Mathieu and Patrick Raynal.

At 6:45 pm, we got tickets to do a giant quiz about crime fiction. It’s going to be a fun competition between readers and writers. It sounds so fun!

Sunday

At 9:15 am, our day will start with a literary cruise with Peter May and we’ll learn more about his last book.

At 11:30 am, S.A. Cosby and Dennis Lehane will discuss racism in the USA, 60 years after the Civil Rights Act.

At 2 pm, Jérémy Claes, Abir Mukherjee, Maryla Szymiczkowa and Joe Thomas have a talk about how crime fiction handles hard topics such as racism, homophobia, and all kinds of extremisms.

At 3:30 pm, I’m also tempted by the panel about rural crime fiction in France with Jean-Charles Chapuzet, Manon Gauthier-Faure, Anne Percin and Niko Tackian. I don’t know any of these authors, so it could be a good opportunity to discover new writers.

That’s the plan for the weekend. Plans can change, we’ll see how it goes. There are tons of exciting events I won’t be able to attend and I’m like a kid in a candy store.

Great news, everything will be available on replay at the Quais du Polar website! So, if you want, you can attend vicariously through replays.

Meanwhile, I’m reading All Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby and I hope I’ll have time to read A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane before the festival starts.