April 25 is Independent Bookshop Day in France
Almost 700 retailers are participating and will offer visitors a free book created especially for the occasion
The proportion of French people who say they are regular readers is declining
L i g h t p o e t / Shutterstock
France’s annual Independent Bookshop Day (la Fête de la librairie indépendante) takes place this year on April 25.
Also celebrated in Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg, nearly 700 bookshops are participating and will offer visitors a free book created especially for the occasion.
Called Umberto Saba, poète et libraire à Trieste, only 27,000 copies have been printed in partnership with the publisher Gallimard.
It focuses on the life and world of Umberto Saba (1883–1957), a unique figure in European literature, who was both a poet and a bookseller in the Italian city. It also includes a walk through modern-day Trieste.
Beyond the figure of Saba and the history of Trieste, the book is intended as a reflection on the bookselling profession.
Reading in decline
It is a troubling time for the trade. A report published last April by the Centre national du livre (CNL) shows that French people are reading less and less.
Based on figures from Les Français et la lecture (The French and reading) – a barometer conducted by Ipsos every two years – the proportion of French people who say they are regular readers is declining. It now stands at 56% – five points lower than in 2023 and the lowest level recorded by the barometer.
Women say they read more than men, and people aged 65 and over are the most avid readers. This is also the only category that has seen an increase in the number of readers. The demographic that reads the least is 35–49-year-olds.
Some 17% of those surveyed said they do not read at all. This figure was 15% in 2015 and 19% in 2021 (the highest level reached).
The amount of time spent reading for leisure has decreased by 10 minutes per day compared to 2023 and now stands at 31 minutes per day, or 3 hours and 40 minutes per week.
Some 63% of French people read at least five books per year – a decline of six points since 2023 – and 87% have read at least one book in the past year.
Nevertheless, France remains well ahead of both the US and UK in terms of reading habits.
In the US, 59% said they read at least one book in 2025, a YouGov survey found, while 40% said they did not read any.
Within the group who did read: 27% read one to four books, 13% read five to nine books, and 19% read 10 or more books.
YouGov figures for the UK from 2025 also show that 40% of Britons did not read a single book in the previous 12 months. The median Briton reads just three books a year.
Chain bookshops more popular
Equally worrying for France’s independent booksellers are statistics relating to shopping habits in the Ipsos barometer.
In 2025, bookshops fell behind chain retailers as the most popular place to buy books for the very first time.
Some 66% of those surveyed said they bought in bookshops, while 75% bought from large retailers such as Fnac, Espace E.Leclerc, and Cultura.
By comparison, in 2023, 73% bought from bookshops and 69% from large retailers.
The government has historically given independent bookshops considerable protection from larger competitors, including Amazon and Fnac.
In 1981, the Loi Lang limited discounts on newly released books to 5%, preventing national stores from undercutting independent ones.
And in 2023, the government announced a €3 minimum shipping charge for online book orders under €35, in a bid to get bookworms to browse and buy at their local bookshops instead of online.
