Sonia Devillers, Philippe Jaenada, Amélie Nothomb, Philippe Besson and Ananda Devi. They all have one thing in common: they will all be there for the 2026 literary rentrée. Between now and October, some 461 novels, including 344 French titles, will be arriving in bookshops. That is a slight drop compared with the previous year, when 484 titles came out.
For publishers and booksellers, this period is a key moment, especially at a time when reading is playing a smaller and smaller part in our daily lives. “The share of French people who spontaneously describe themselves as readers is falling across all categories, particularly among regular readers (down 5 points compared with 2023)”, notes the sixth barometer of the National Book Centre (CNL), published in 2025. “Over the past 12 months, 63% of French people say they have read at least five books (down 6 points compared with 2023) and the proportion reading every day is falling (down 4 points compared with 2023), reaching its lowest level in 10 years”, the study also points out.
“It is our shared responsibility to reaffirm the central place that reading should have in our lives. Reading is an essential moment, time for yourself, which absolutely has to be protected”, argues Régine Hatchondo, president of the CNL.
And the picture is even starker among young people: they spend an average of 3 hours and 1 minute a day in front of screens, but only 18 minutes reading books, according to the study “Les jeunes Français et la lecture”, published in 2026. “Regular reading is declining and young people very often do something else at the same time as they read”, the head of the CNL also explains.
In Belgium and Switzerland, eyes turned towards France
Although it is a particularly big deal in France, the literary rentrée also exists in several other European countries.
In Switzerland, the phenomenon does not have the same impact. “There is much less media hype, there are fewer [literary] prizes being awarded at that time as well”, observes Nicolas Julliard, a literature specialist at RTS, speaking to Euronews. “It is not the same phenomenon.”
However, he acknowledges that Switzerland is increasingly aligning itself with the French market. “More and more publishing houses are adjusting to this timetable in order to bring out their biggest titles”, the journalist goes on. One of the reasons is that Swiss publishers thus manage to gain more visibility in France. “Quite a few books are exported and some are even starting to feature in certain prizes.” In short, the Swiss literary rentrée “is increasingly becoming a key date for publishing houses, particularly for the younger ones”, concludes Nicolas Julliard.
In Belgium, it is “a fairly paradoxical period”, says Nausicaa Dewez, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Le Carnet et les Instants”, speaking to Euronews. “Because of the pull of the French literary rentrée, there is strong media and public interest in books and literature, and at the same time the space is saturated by books published in France. […] Belgian publishing houses are present during this period, but they also know that commercially they cannot compete with much larger and more powerful structures. So they do not throw all their weight into the autumn season.”
Nausicaa Dewez adds another nuance: “For most literary publishing houses in French-speaking Belgium, the first major highlight of the year is the Brussels Book Fair, which takes place in March”, which explains why the start of the year is also an important moment for Belgian literature.
A major phenomenon elsewhere in Europe too
In Spain, this period is known as the “temporada editorial de otoño” (“autumn publishing season”). While the country “does not reach France’s level of activity, publishing houses still prepare big titles every year for the beginning of September”, explains journalist Pepa Blanes in the pages of Cadena SER (source in French). “Events also begin to take up much of the month.”
In Germany too, the end of summer is synonymous with new book releases, but again on a smaller scale than in France. Across the Rhine, this period is called the “Bücherherbst” (“book autumn”) or “Literaturherbst” (“literary autumn”). The press then presents the big new releases and regards this period as an important one for bookshops. It is an event that is “planned a long way in advance”, explains the Tagesspiegel (source in French).
Above all, this wave of new books comes a few weeks before the Frankfurt Book Fair, held every year in October, which is a major date for the industry. It is also on this occasion that the Deutscher Buchpreis, a prize created on the model of France’s Prix Goncourt, is awarded, notes Deutsche Welle (source in French).
In Italy, “it is in the autumn that some of the year’s most important publications are concentrated, although in recent years this market approach has evolved and publishers, to avoid an overabundance of titles in the autumn, have started to spread their output more evenly over the rest of the year”, explains Paolo Ambrosini, president of the Associazione librai italiani, speaking to Euronews.
The British literary rentrée is perhaps the closest thing to what we see in France, even if it follows a different timetable. “‘Super Thursday’ is an exciting day for booksellers, because hundreds of new books arrive in bookshops on the same day”, explains Kate Skipper, chief operating officer at bookseller Waterstones, speaking to The Guardian (source in French).
It usually falls on the first or second Thursday in October. “It is always an extremely busy day, but there is real excitement in unboxing so many big titles for Christmas all at once”, continues Kate Skipper. In 2024, more than 1,900 books were published for this “Super Thursday”, The Guardian (source in French) reported.
An exceptional volume which, however, fell sharply the following year: the number of new releases was almost halved, as publishers adopted a strategy summed up by the watchword “publish less, but publish better”, The Bookseller (source in French) reported at the time.