A group of more than 600 publishers, authors and booksellers, has published on Saturday a forum addressed to the head of the State to act to "save" the book trade put at risk by the epidemic of Covid-19, while the government said it is working to a " plan of support ".
"The State must prevent the collapse of this sector is vital to our society as a whole (...) many bookshops and publishing houses, known and recognized, and the authors, illustrators, translators, like all the creators of the book, do not rise if the entire chain does not have a recovery plan fast and ambitious," argue the signatories, including the Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano, the publisher Antoine Gallimard, or even the novelist Guillaume Musso.
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the complete closure of The libraries has resulted, for them, a loss of almost all of their revenue and over 80 % for the publishing houses, reminiscent of the signatories of the op-ed published by The World. "Distributors, broadcasters, and printers have been heavily affected. The authors, private sales of books and meetings-paid, experienced a loss of income is unprecedented, " they stress.
"An emergency to occur before this summer"
" now there is an absolute urgency to intervene before the summer ", say the signatories, who wish to "help hundreds of millions of euros" for the sector. "If an ambitious recovery plan in favour of the book and of reading is not fully engaged, many of the actors will disappear, others will have to fight to just survive ", indicated by the Syndicat national de l'édition (SNE), the Union of the librairie française (SLF) and the permanent Council of writers (CPE) in a joint statement sent to Agence France-Presse.
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" The book is a great forgotten ", sorry for the ENS, the SLF and the CPE, which consider that "the expected amount of five million euros provided by the national Centre of the book is quite insufficient" to save the industry. The minister of Culture, Franck Riester announced Friday on his Twitter account that he was working with the Economy minister Bruno Le Maire " to a plan to support the book chain in consultation with all professionals in the sector ". He has promised measures " at the end of next week ".
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