5 Festivals That Will Make You Want to Travel to France This Summer

Through the encounters I offer you, you will learn the art of wandering, the evocative power of words and sounds, you will summon your sensitivity… In short, you will live the carpe diem!    

Anthony Doerr was a regular at the festival when he won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel All the Light We Cannot See. He sets the scene for his story of friendship between 2 children during the liberation in Saint Malo and it’s captivating. The 2023 edition scheduled between May 27 and May 29 promises to be extraordinary. It will bring together more than 150 guests among whom are novelists but also illustrators, musicians, thinkers... Initiated by Michel Lebris in 1990, the festival, which refers to a poem by Baudelaire*, has become a must-attend event for travel narrative aficionados. A prestigious guest will join the event, Francois Bourgeon, to whom we owe among others Les Passagers du Vent. There will be meetings, literary cafes, interviews, debates, and readings during which writers will immerse us in their worlds. Carte blanche has been given to Laurent Gaudé who has just published Dog 51, a dystopia showing the urgency to resist. Ireland will also be in the spotlight as it sends its novelists and poets to participate in the event. Furthermore, the live readings have found resonance among the public just as the original evenings of words and music. This new edition also innovates as it organizes unique master classes that promise to be thrilling since they will take place in unusual locations. Finally, let us note the participation of the anthropologist Norah Martin, the philosopher Vinciane Despret, or the crime writer Colin Niel. Fair winds! 

Mark your calendars, the Arles meetings are sure to delight you if you are a fan of photography. The origin of this summer cultural event is the friendship that existed between a photographer from Arles and the writer Michel Tournier. Some say that these meetings reflect the state of the world's consciousness like a seismograph. It must be recognized that they scrutinize the news of the past year without complacency. They are made possible by a collaboration between public institutions such as the Ministry of Culture, publishing houses like Actes Sud, and art galleries such as Templon. To give you a taste, here is what awaits you... Naturally, the Camargue region, where they take place, is honored. Thus, you will see an exhibition dedicated to the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and its Gypsy pilgrimage. It consists of vernacular material from archives. Thanks to the REX Studios, you will learn more about Marseille as a site of migration. American photographers are not lacking either. The presence of Gregory Crewdson proves this well with his shots that recall Hopper's paintings. For its part, the newspaper Libération offers snapshots on the occasion of its 50 years of existence! Agnès Varda delights us with her stolen images from the 1940s in Sète. Soleil of Persan Square revisits the Iranian diaspora in the USA. Finally, it is Emma Saparniemi who will lend her self-portrait to the official poster of the meetings, what a program! 

When Jean Vilar discovered the Cour d'honneur of the Palais des Papes in Avignon in 1947, he was deeply impressed. Would he rise to the challenge? He eventually embarked on the adventure with his troupe of actors, soon joined by Gérard Philipe and Jeanne Moreau. The Avignon Festival was born and its success has not waned over the years as it celebrates its 77th anniversary. In the meantime, the repertoire has been enriched with performing arts such as dance. An informal sibling, the off festival, even grafted onto the official festival. Its current director, Tiago Rodriguez, has big plans; he intends to transform Avignon into a "theater city, a bright café for Europe." Moreover, on the occasion of this new edition, the festival is committed and advocates for the release of Mortaza Behboudi, a Franco-Afghan documentary filmmaker detained in Kabul. In summary, the programming aims to be humanist, international, and ecologist. To whet your appetite, you will see the performance by Bintou Dembelé titled Groove. The pioneer of hip-hop dance in France invites you to a contemporary promenade inspired by Rameau's opera-ballet Les Indes Galantes. If you appreciate the Flemish choreographer de Keersmaeker, you will find her to your great delight on the stage of the FabricA. Finally, do not miss under any circumstances the Garden of Delights, a cross between science fiction and western. This performance, which will take place at the Carrière, indeed crowns the 20 years of the company.

The 2023 edition that will be held in Lyon between May 31 and July 28 promises to be extraordinary, judging by the lineup: Decouflé… If the festival has existed since 1946, it emphasizes multidisciplinarity. In total, there will be more than 150 performances and a thousand times more spectators! Its director Dominique Delorme has chosen to make the event accessible so don’t hesitate any longer! Olivia Ruiz, singer-songwriter might well convince you, just listen.. “It’s a unique setting, a large ancient theater, very imposing… From the stage, it almost feels like having a wall of people in front of you, as if the audience were vertical! But at Fourvière, in the open air, it just feels like singing into the ear of each spectator, which creates an insane closeness, a unique quality of listening. But Fourvière, especially, is famous for the cushion throwing moment. When people have enjoyed the concert, they throw the cushions from the stands towards the stage. I don’t know anywhere else with such a display of coded and collective joy.” The festival's dimension is international; in fact, it has established links with events beyond the borders: Festival El Grec in Barcelona, Sadler’s Wells in London… 

One could rightly talk about wandering for this 45th jazz meet. The line-up is impressive: Sofiane Pamart, Ben Harper, Gilberto Gil, Thomas Dutronc, Suzanne Vega, Goran Bregovic to name just a few... Three stages share the event. Beside the Big Top set up over a rugby field and capable of accommodating 10,000 spectators, the Astrada offers perfect acoustics. It must be said that it is an ecological wooden construction and then, as you might have guessed, there is the off festival. Watch out if you call it that, it’s called the Bis! It springs up in small squares, around street corners and indeed, you wander to the sound of saxophone chords. If the jazz greats meet in Marciac, new trends are also broadly represented. Lucky Peterson and his American blues, for example, will be there. Be aware that an army of volunteers makes this event possible, with artist residencies and training workshops even being organized! 

Author: Gretel Tamalet