Rapidly becoming one of Europe’s most renowned French-English language book festivals, the Swiss lakeside town of Morges will host its 6th annual event, or Le Livre sur les Quais, at the end of this week featuring some 300 writers from all over the world. Held in tents along the waterfront overlooking Lake Geneva and the Alps as well as inside cafes, museums and various historical buildings, the festival offers the public a chance to meet with established literary stars and new writers, essayists, poets and translators, authors of crime fiction, travel writing and books for children.
With select sessions moderated by Lake Geneva writers and literary experts, the authors will give talks, readings and round table discussions – some in the form of a literary cruise – enabling audiences to interact with questions and observations. There will also be book signings and the chance to purchase books on-the-spot.
In addition, there will be film showings at the Odeon theatre featuring the works of writers, some of whom will be available for discussion. Films include the adaptation of Boomerang by best-selling author Tatiana de Rosnay, Monsieur Ibrahim et les Fleurs du Coran to be presented by author Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt; Nos amis les Terriens with Bernard Werber; Atiq Rahimi’s Syngué Sabour, and Marcus Malte for Miller’s Crossing directed by the Coen brothers. There will also be the pre-premiere of Mr. Holmes by Bill Condon.
Last year’s festival attracted more than 40,000 visitors. This year’s event promises to be even more stimulating. Attending English-language authors include Louis de Bernières, Jonathan Coe, Jenny Colgan, Paul Lynch, Elif Shafak, Christos Tsiolkas, Esther Freud and Amanda Hodgkinson.
Open from 9.30am-7pm. Entry is free of charge apart from cruises and films.
How to get there: Easy access to Morges by train from Geneva and Lausanne, by car by autoroute A1 or by a festival boat from Geneva on Sunday. And for those who wish to come by bike, there are several different routes along the lake and through the vineyards.
For more information, please see their French-English website.
This article was first published on the Essential Edge.
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Zeki Ergas - essayist, novelist, activist and lecturer at the MAPCS - Masters of Peace and Conflict Studies at Hacettepe U of Ankara (Turkey) says
Hey, you should have mentioned that the Geneva Writers Group – more than 200 writers led by Susan Tiberghien – will be there. They will also be present in the festival boat!