Festival Oh les beaux jours!

An exceptional encounter with a great writer of our time. Interview hosted by Arnaud Laporte Interview translated from Spanish by Véronique Bourgois
A major writer of contemporary Cuban literature, Leonardo Padura never ceases to explore, through his novels, the tensions and contradictions of his country. Born in Havana in 1955, where he still lives, he has given life to unforgettable figures such as detective Mario Conde, whose investigations provide a sensitive cartography of Cuban society. Part noir novel, part historical fresco, part social chronicle, his work examines the legacy of the revolution, everyday forms of resistance,...

An Afro-Queer tale that reinvents founding narratives. With Anthony Martine and Mérèndys Martine
It was during his years as a preparatory student that Anthony Martine noticed the lack of diversity in the images that had populated his childhood – films, songs, admired figures. In this resolutely queer fable, he seizes on the medieval tale with joyful irreverence, hijacking its codes and opening up a space where other bodies and other desires appear. On stage, the figures undergo a metamorphosis: the king’s jester rubs shoulders with “Paris Ardant”, a drag godmother...

A literary journey in the first person. With Marie Richeux Interview by Alexandre Alajbegovic
Writer and producer for France Culture for over ten years, Marie Richeux hosts Le Book Club, a daily meeting place for books, writing and reading experiences. Writers, artists and readers from all horizons share their enthusiasm and influences. Each week, she invites them to browse through their library as if they were tracing the thread of their lives. For Oh les beaux jours! the roles are reversed, as Marie Richeux takes us into her library. Which books have shaped it? What voices accompany...

Rencontre With Olivia Gesbert, Lydie Salvayre, Julien Delmaire, Louise Chennevière
Good or bad, the mother. What can literature teach us about this figure? Protective, adored, absent, toxic, devouring: the mother runs through literature like a living question, an inexhaustible motif. From the “matrix” mother – Gaïa, Marie, Anticlée – to contemporary figures, to the idea of a “mothering” AI that some see as the promise of humanity’s future, has our imagination really evolved? After Marcel Proust, Romain Gary, Albert Cohen, after...

An exceptional evening with Séphora Pondi, Edgard Chenest, Vincent Delerm to close the 10ᵉ edition with
8pm – Avale, With Séphora Pondi and Edgard Chenest Comédie-Française resident Séphora Pondi gives voice to Avale, her first novel (winner of the Prix Premier roman Les Inrockuptibles and the Prix Roman des étudiants France Culture 2025), in a musical reading accompanied by musician Edgard Chenest. Between realism and turmoil, the story follows two opposing trajectories: that of Tom, a young man haunted by violence and the desire to devour, and that of Lame, an aspiring actress exploring...

Telling the past to better prepare for the future
Jean-Baptiste Sastre and Hiam Abbass bring to the stage the words and experience of Jorge Semprún, survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp, in a powerful show exploring the abysses of the 20th century and questioning our present. Young amateur actors take part in its creation, making this show an act of dialogue, responsibility and hope, with the aim of transmitting and preserving a memory that is fundamental yet threatened with oblivion. Running time: 1h30 The show will be followed by a...

Mucem hosts a collective literary performance based on personal stories.
Five authors come together on stage in response to a simple invitation: to write about an important figure in their lives, famous or otherwise. Fiction, autobiographical narratives or personal accounts: the forms blend together in this reading-performance by and starring Marwan Chahine, Amira Ghenim, Maya Ouabadi, Abdellah Taïa and Nassera Tamer. In this free voyage between the shores of the Mediterranean, memories, icons, mythical figures and everyday heroes come together, giving life to an...