Books and publishing

The book industry, one of France's leading creative and cultural industries, is also one of the most internationally oriented. French is one of the most widely translated languages in the world; in all publishing segments, particularly literature, comics and children's literature, the works of French authors feed into global literary creation and major contemporary debates.

Our missions

The Institut français fulfills a dual mission of disseminating literature, primarily to young audiences, and supporting the French book industry in its international development, in synergy with other cultural industries and in support of the various links in the book chain. Support for literary creation, particularly emerging literature, and for the mobility of authors abroad; support for the translation and export of French-language publishing creations; support for the structuring of professional exchanges between the French and foreign sectors; promotion of French publishing on the major transmedia markets for book adaptation rights are at the heart of this policy. The Institut français supports the book industry worldwide in close collaboration with the book offices and cooperation and cultural action departments of the diplomatic network.

Key programs

Publication assistance program - transfer of rights

Centered on the transfer of rights, the Publication Assistance Program (PAP) supports the work and involvement of foreign publishing houses pursuing a policy of publishing titles translated from French, thus making contemporary French literary creation and thought accessible to a non-French-speaking public. This scheme is complemented by the various publication support programs implemented by the diplomatic network.

Cultural and Creative Industries Program (PICC)

This call for projects for the French cultural network abroad is part of the French government's strategy to support and boost the export of French cultural and creative industries, and to reinforce the ICC support strategy led by the Institut français. It supports projects for structuring the industry that are supported by the French diplomatic network.

Focus

FOCUS Book
FOCUS is a program designed to help foreign professionals identify sectors of French cultural creation and encourage their distribution worldwide. FOCUS events are organized by the Institut Français in partnership with events in France or with partners that attract the interest of foreign professionals. FOCUS Livre helps to raise the profile of French publishing worldwide, and to support the growing international momentum of targeted publishing segments (literature, comics and children's books).

MIRA Livre

MIRA Livre is a mobility support program for authors developing a French-language writing project requiring international research. MIRA Livre is open to French and foreign authors residing in France for more than 5 years, working alone or as a duo, who wish to carry out and/or deepen their research in one or more countries for a minimum period of one month.

Books from both shores - Mediterranean dialogue through books

Livres des deux rives is a program funded by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, piloted by the Institut français since 2021. It aims to support dialogue between civil societies on the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean through book-based cooperation initiatives. Focusing on three areas (translation, publishing and mediation), the project's actions are deployed in the Maghreb, Lebanon and Egypt.

The Collection

The aim of the Collection is to provide the French cultural network abroad with a range of French cultural offerings, especially literary works, that are easy to distribute and flexible enough to feed its programming and expand its collaboration with partners. These offerings, selected by Institut français experts and partner institutions and structures, are designed to be presented in the establishments of the French cultural network abroad.

Book seminar

Every year in France, the Institut français brings together agents from the diplomatic network responsible for promoting French books abroad, to discuss the major current issues affecting French publishing and the cultural industries on a global scale. Organized in conjunction with a partner French literary event, this time of discovery, meetings with professionals from the French book industry and the sharing of practices aims to strengthen the identification of French publishing sectors supported internationally, and to feed the literary programming of the diplomatic network.

Resource production

The Institut français provides the diplomatic network and its partners with an up-to-date range of professional resources and tools for the book sector: panoramas of current events and publishing trends, players in the book chain, focus on specific geographical areas, legal tools, vademecums and programming guides.

Residence and professional mobility

The Institut français implements residency programs, such as Villa Kujoyama in Japan, as well as artistic and professional mobility programs. It supports residency structures and accompanies the French cultural network abroad, from the conception to the implementation of new residency programs.

Shoot the book

Shoot the Book! is a program of professional meetings designed to support the presence of French publishers on major international audiovisual markets, and to promote the audiovisual adaptation of French literary fiction.

Key figures

26 000 titles by French authors published in 80 countries, with the support of the Publication Assistance Programs of the Institut français and the diplomatic network since 1990. This policy contributes to the international recognition of major authors such as Patrick Modiano, J.M.G. Le Clézio, Annie Ernaux and Neige Sinno.

+ More than 700 authors have received support for their writing projects abroad since 1989 via the MIRA Livre program, which supports the emergence and literary recognition of new contemporary French voices such as Marie Darrieussecq, Julia Deck, Tanguy Viel, François-Henri Désérable and Marion Achard.

2 million euros invested in cultural cooperation through books in the Mediterranean since 2021, through the Livres des deux rives project. To date, it has supported over 50 books (literature, humanities and social sciences, children's literature and comics), provided over 250 hours of literary translation training for more than 120 young translators, and reached out to over 500 schoolchildren through children's literature mediation workshops.

15 à 20 foreign book professionals invited each year to attend a French literary event, as part of the FOCUS program.

4 international editions of the Shoot the Book! program organized in France and around the world. 250 French publishing brands are represented during the Cannes Film Festival at the Marché du Film, then in London, Taipei (TCCF) and Rome (MIA) in 2025.

Our partners

Every year, thanks to the Institut français' agreements with French local authorities, literary organizations and events all over France benefit from support to develop their international actions, in France or around the world.

The Institut français participates in the development and circulation of French literary creation, and in the promotion of works and authors around the world in close collaboration with the international services of the collective interprofessional book structures in France.

As essential places and events for books and their audiences to meet, French literary events contribute to the dynamism of the French publishing market and the promotion of French-language literary creation on a global scale. The Institut français supports French literary festivals and fairs in their international development, and pays particular attention to events that strengthen the reputation of dynamic publishing sectors internationally (youth, comics, literature).