The Quais du Polar International Festival 18th edition finished off on Sunday 3rd of April 2022 after 3 days of literary, cinematic, cultural and playful events in more than 70 places of the Lyon Metropole and the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Region. With the presence of 130 authors of 21 different nationalities, the public has responded to the invitation of the organizers by crossing the mark of 80 000 festival-goers!

The Quais du Polar International Festival 17th edition finished off on Sunday 4th of July, 2021 after 3 days of literary, cinematic, cultural and playful events in more than 50 places of the Lyon Métropole and the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Region.

The project meets great expectations of the audience, authors and professionals for new cultural experiences. Every year, Quais du Polar is founded on four essential pillars that have been developed since its creation and that have been the key to its success: international programme, innovation, atmosphere and warm welcome of the audience and authors.

Often compared to the Paris Book Fair, the Saint-Malo Étonnants Voyageurs festival or the Angouleme Comics festival, Quais du Polar became the essential meeting point in the French cultural landscape in many ways:

• For the press and the audience
• For national and international cultural institutions
• For book professionals and for the authors themselves

And the festival continues its desire to open up beyond the borders of the City of Lyon thanks to:

• An audience coming from all over France and from neighbouring countries (approximately 10% of foreign visitors and 45% of the audience of the festival are from other French departments).
• Regional, national and international media : Libération, Le Figaro, L’Express, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Paris Match, Le Dauphiné, France Inter, France 3, Le Temps (Switzerland), Le Soir (Belgium),…
• 17 international institutional partners (embassies and cultural centres) collaborating for the participation of foreign authors and for the festival’s outreach
• The festival’s invitation on many fairs, festivals and events occurring abroad

Access and upload the previous festival programmes here.

• Quais du Polar / 20 Minutes Readers Prize: Le Sourire du scorpion, Patrice Gain (Le Mot et le Reste)
• Mention « Polar behind the walls » assigned to La soustraction des possibles, Pascale Dietrich (Liana Lévi)
• Quais du Polar / Ville de Lyon Youth Prize: Les élèves de l’ombre, Anaïs Vachez (Castermann)
• Mention « francophonie 2021 » assigned to Les élèves de l’ombre, Anaïs Vachez (Castermann)

• Polar in Series Prize : Leur âme au diable, Marin Ledun (Gallimard) & Du bleu dans la nuit, Jean-Charles Chapuzet (Marchialy)

• Quais du Polar / Expérience / France 3 Graphic Novel Prize : La Cage aux Cons, Robin Recht & Matthieu Angotti (Delcourt)

• Claude Mesplède / Quais du Polar Prize: Alibi mag

• Quais du Polar / Kobo by Fnac Short Story Writing Contest: L’homme qui pleure, Val Bianco

• Graphic Novel Youth Contest: Panique au musée Gadagne, Lucile Andrieu

• Quais du Polar / 20 Minutes Readers Prize: Traverser la nuit, Hervé le Corre (Éditions Rivages)
• Mention « Polar behind the walls » assigned to Trente gramme, Gabrielle Massat (Éditions du Masque)
• Quais du Polar / Ville de Lyon Youth Prize: La Cité des squelettes, Richard Petitsigne (Gulf Stream Éditeur)
• Mention « francophonie 2021 » assigned to Les élèves de l’ombre d’Anaïs Vachez (Éditions Casterman Jeunesse)

• Polar in Series Prize : Le loup des ardents, Noémie Adenis (Éditions Robert Laffont, 2021)

• Quais du Polar / Expérience / France 3 Graphic Novel Prize :Queenie d’Elizabeth Colomba et Aurélie Levy (Éditions Anne Carrière)

• Claude Mesplède / Quais du Polar Prize: ALIBI mag (2021)

• Quais du Polar / Kobo by Fnac Short Story Writing Contest:  La Nuit grise, Laura Belli-Riz