OUR MISSION

hold literary events in English in urban and rural communities across western France
bring English-speaking writers and journalists to explore and engage with the region
celebrate and support existing English-language organizations such as the:
- English-Language Library in Angers
- Institut franco-américain in Rennes
- Maison des États-Unis in Nantes
- Association Lord Russell in Dinard
- English Speaking Union of the Loire Valley
connect English-speaking writers living across western France through online and in-person gatherings

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About

WHAT IS THE GRAND WEST?

When you think of the literary scene in France, it's often things you can do in Paris: buy a book at the iconic Shakespeare and Company; drink a glass of wine at Les Deux Magots and picture all the great writers who convened there like James Joyce, Jean-Paul Sartre, and James Baldwin; wander around Victor Hugo’s apartment and the bedroom where he wrote much of Les Misérables; attend a GRoW @ Annenberg Evening with an Author event at the American Library in Paris; and visit the graves of Colette or Proust at Père-Lachaise Cemetery.

But Western France has an equally rich and grand literary history, too. It is just a bit lesser known (and a bit more spread out!) You can buy a book at The Little Bookshop in Rennes—one of more than thirty independent bookstores in the city; eat lunch at Les Pierres Rabelaisians in Chinon, then visit Rabelais’s house a few kilometers down the road where he wrote Gargantua then head to Balzac’s Château de Saché; journey to the center of Jules Verne’s writing at his museum in Nantes; attend an author event at the English-language Library in Angers or the Institut franco-américain in Rennes; and visit the dramatic grave of the poet Chateaubriand on a wild island in the sea you can only walk to at low tide.

Western France is also home to many wonderful literary festivals including Étonnants Voyageurs festival in Saint Malo, Festival du Livre en Bretagne in Finistère, Festival de la Fiction in La Rochelle, Festival de Littérature Insulaire on the westernmost island of mainland France, Ouessant, and the renowned Festival International de la Bande Dessinée, which focuses on comics and graphic novels and draws more than 200,000 visitors each year to the city of Angoulême, a UNESCO Creative City of Literature.

Yet despite the vast literary history of the region—and the roughly 40,000 English speakers across western France, not to mention the many French readers eager to engage with English-speaking writers and journalists—there are surprisingly few literary events that bring international writers and audiences together in English.

That is why we founded the biannual Angers Literary Festival in 2023. People flocked from all over the region to attend the first two festivals and, after the 2025 festival, when we saw participants had traveled from 46 different towns and postal codes, we realized there was a clear demand for English-language literary programming across western France.

In response, we founded Grand West Lit Events in 2026. Our goal is to hold events with writers and journalists in urban and rural areas across western France for English speakers of all ages.

Our name comes from the French concept of ‘le Grand Ouest’, the western third of France that encompasses Brittany, the Pays de la Loire, Centre Val-de-Loire, much of Normandy, and stretches as far south as the edges of Bordeaux. It is a region filled with wine, castles, and the rivers and coasts that led to its long history of shipbuilding, ports, and trade. For centuries, these rivers and ports carried not only goods but ideas—linking the region to Britain, Ireland, the Americas, and beyond. This is why the Grand West is known as a part of France that looks outward toward the sea rather than inward, toward Paris.

Grand West Lit Events aims to bring together writers and readers to create a vibrant literary community that reflects the outward-looking spirit of the Grand Ouest.

The Little Bookshop, Rabelais House, Château de Saché, Jules Verne Museum, English-language Library in Angers, Institut franco-américain, and Chateaubriand's grave