Jean-François Callen
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The Gazette · Toulon, Var & beyond

Literature

The latest Gazette articles, features and discoveries about literature.

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Pascal Quignard will appear at Médiathèque Chalucet in Toulon on 29 September for the literary event “Accès au sublime”.
Literature AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen5 views

Pascal Quignard in Toulon: literature in search of the sublime

The Prix Goncourt winner for Les Ombres errantes will be the guest of the Académie du Var’s formal opening event on 29 September at Médiathèque Chalucet.

A Prix Goncourt winner is coming to Chalucet, not simply for a book signing but for a conversation about literature and the sublime. On 29 September, Pascal Quignard will appear in Toulon at the invitation of the Académie du Var. The author of Tous les matins du monde and Les Ombres errantes continues in 2026 to build a body of work that resists easy classification, moving constantly between fiction, thought, music, memory and poetry.

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Cameroonian novelist Hemley Boum will appear at Charlemagne Toulon on 25 September to discuss her new novel Nos vies sauvages.
Literature AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen13 views

Hemley Boum comes to Toulon as the literary season turns towards Cameroon

The novelist will meet readers at Charlemagne on 25 September to discuss Nos vies sauvages, her new Gallimard novel published on 20 August.

Toulon will soon put a face to this year’s French literary season. On 25 September, Charlemagne bookshop will welcome Hemley Boum for a discussion of Nos vies sauvages, her new novel from Gallimard. The Cameroonian writer once again brings individual lives into contact with the political history of her country. This time, an imprisoned lawyer opens a story about power, corruption, love and resistance.

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Sylvain Prudhomme’s new novel De l’autre côté du lac will be published by Éditions de Minuit on 27 August 2026.
Literature AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen20 views

La Seyne-born Sylvain Prudhomme returns with a novel steeped in suspense

The 2019 Prix Femina winner publishes De l’autre côté du lac on 27 August, moving his fiction towards mountains, disappearance and the pull of the wild.

Ten days before publication, De l’autre côté du lac has particular relevance for readers in the Var. Its author, Sylvain Prudhomme, was born in La Seyne-sur-Mer before building a body of work shaped by travel, encounters and changing landscapes. Winner of the Prix Femina in 2019 for Par les routes, he returns on 27 August with a 288-page novel published by Éditions de Minuit, this time set beside a high-altitude lake and a nature reserve closed to humans.

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Boris Cyrulnik and Bernard Werber come together in Toulon on 22 August as part of the Les Entretiens de l’été festival. AI illustration
Literature AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen24 views

In Toulon, Boris Cyrulnik and Bernard Werber Bring the Human Mind into Conversation with the Living World

The neuropsychiatrist and the novelist will meet on 22 August for an event that begins with their latest books and opens onto a broader question: how can societies rebuild?

Two worlds that might not immediately seem destined to share the same stage will meet in Toulon. On Saturday, 22 August 2026, Boris Cyrulnik and Bernard Werber will appear together at the Théâtre Sainte-Jeanne d’Arc as part of Les Entretiens de l’été. Drawing on their latest books, the neuropsychiatrist and the novelist will bring together two very different ways of examining our times: one through the human sciences, the other through fiction and imagination.

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A journey into the heart of Sword and Sorcery: when pen and steel forge modern mythology. AI illustration
Literature AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen878 views

The Empire of Swords

A brief history of heroic fantasy and its masters

In the dim light of my office, illuminated only by the pale glare of a tired computer screen humming softly, I often observe contemporary literature with an amused perplexity. It is customary among the fine minds of the boulevard and salon aesthetes to swear only by the psychological novel or sweeping realistic sagas. Yet, far from these quiet sanctuaries, a genre of literature from another realm ended up conquering the world through sheer force of sword and sorcery. It is called epic or heroic fantasy, a term sometimes dismissed, used to describe tales rooted in the oldest terrors from the dawn of time.

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Traditional publishing, self-publishing, or vanity publishing? Between the fantasy of a publishing contract and the reality of book sales, the numbers speak for themselves. Here is a full breakdown of the book market to help you make the right choice before publishing your work. AI illustration
Literature AI-assisted text By Jean-François Callen871 views

Publishing House, Self-Publishing, Vanity Publishing, or Personal Project

Current State and Realities of the Book Market in FRANCE

In the collective imagination, finishing a manuscript and securing a publishing contract represents the ultimate achievement for a writer. However, the reality of the book industry shows that the publishing and marketing phases involve logistical and financial challenges that are often overlooked.

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Beyond its naval base and Mediterranean coastline lies a diverse literary history. Explore our guide to Toulon's writers—from regional bards and whimsical poets to working-class storytellers—and discover the books that capture the soul of the city. AI illustration
Literature AI-translated text By Jean-François Callen895 views

Toulon, City of Writers

Guide to Toulon’s Authors, Works, and Literary Movements

When Toulon is mentioned, the first images that usually come to mind are those of the roadstead, the naval base (arsenal), Navy ships, Mount Faron, and the Mediterranean. Yet, the city also possesses a rich literary history, traversed by poetry, popular fiction, Provençal literature, working-class writing, formal experimentation, and travel narratives. Toulon literature does not constitute a strictly defined school with a manifesto and shared rules. Rather, it can be recognized by certain recurring motifs: an attachment to Provence, the presence of the sea, the weight of the arsenal, departures toward elsewhere, working-class memory, the relationship between the city and its hinterland, as well as a form of distrust toward dominant cultural centers. From the landscapes of the Maures celebrated in verse by Jean Aicard to the arsenal workers portrayed by Christian Astolfi, through the whimsical poetry of Léon Vérane and the experimentations of Nadine Agostini, Toulon authors have built a diverse literature. This diversity reflects the very identity of Toulon: a military and working-class city, Mediterranean and Provençal, open to the world yet often described from its margins.

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