Toulouse is undergoing a transformation as it hosts the 18th edition of Toulouse Polars du Sud, a literary festival centered around the noir genre, from 9 to 11 October 2026. The festival, which has expanded beyond its usual headquarters at Basso Cambo, is turning the city into an open-air crime scene with events at the Municipal Archives, the Museum, and the streets of the Pink City. Participants will engage in puzzles, clues, and real-life criminal cases, placing them at the heart of the investigation. At the Municipal Archives, the first dossier "Siffler n'est pas jouer" will run from 5 to 7 October. A participatory workshop called "Meurtres à la carte" will re-open a case from 1 July 1738, preserved in the documents of the Capitouls. The event will involve reconstructing the facts from historical documents and examining a real crime scene. Meanwhile, the Museum of Toulouse will host "The mysterious cabinet of curiosity of Professor Astrophylitus" on 7 October from 20:00 to 23:00. This team-based game will involve discovering a 19th-century cabinet attributed to a controversial scientist and tracing the trail among the museum's collections. The event is reserved for adults and combines scientific heritage, criminal fiction, and observational skills. On 11 October, "Operation Auroch" will transform the city into a vast hunting ground. Teams of up to five people will search for an invaluable treasure hidden in the city, with guards watching over the loot. The event will take place from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM, departing from the festival's headquarters. Other literary events in the region include the festival Ensemble en Librairie! which will take place from 10 to 24 October 2026, featuring more than 70 independent bookstores in Occitanie. The Salon de la revue will be held from 2 to 4 October 2026 at the Halle des Blancs-Manteaux, featuring more than 200 exhibitors and meetings around literature, poetry, ideas, democracy, geopolitics, and the contemporary transformations of creation. Babelica 2026, an online international fair of independent publishing, will take place on 21 and 22 September 2026, giving central place to 30 young authors from around the world. Lisons libres! will take place from 18 to 20 September 2026 at the space of the Blancs Manteaux in Paris, gathering a hundred publishing houses and featuring meetings, dedications, artists' works, workshops for children, debates, and round tables on the theme of independence. Read & Shine 2026 will take place on 19 September 2026 at the Gaîté Lyrique in Paris, with three round tables questioning what history leaves out of its archives. The Prix Aventuriales 2026 will be awarded on 26 and 27 September in Ménétrol, with the winner announced at the beginning of September. Aventuriales 2026 will feature a new constellation of voices of the imaginary, with Ian McDonald as guest of honor and Morgan of Glencoe and Pierre Grimbert as godmother and godfather of the festival. The festival will feature programming that makes science fiction, fantasy, romance, and uchronia dialogue. Délivrées!, a feminist books fair, will take place from 6 to 8 November 2026 at the Halle des Blancs Manteaux in Paris. The event will gather authors, journalists, researchers, and committed personalities around meetings, debates, projections, exhibitions, and dedication sessions. The International Geography Festival 2026 will take place from 2 to 4 October 2026 in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, with Bulgaria and Romania as the two countries honored this year. The festival will feature conferences, debates, literature, cinema, exhibitions, cartography, or gastronomy. The Étrange Grande festival, a meeting devoted to genre literatures in Hettange-Grande, in Moselle, has been canceled after a controversy surrounding the presence of writer Christophe Dubourg. The volunteer team that organizes it has also announced its withdrawal. Le Livre sur les quais 2026 will take place from 4 to 6 September 2026 in Morges, under the presidency of Delphine de Vigan and the theme "Tell stories," with Noir sur Blanc editions honored. The festival will question what remains of an existence when it becomes a story. Yggdrasil 2026, a festival devoted to the cultures of the imaginary, will take place on 5 and 6 September 2026 in Lyon. The event will bring together fantasy, literature, illustration, games, and live performance, with a new space devoted to Vikings and dragons. The International Festival of Literature (FIL) will take place in Montreal from 23 September to 3 October 2026, with nearly 200 writers, writers, and artists participating. Literary performances, music, cinema, translation, photography, public space performances, and tributes to Ingeborg Bachmann, Mahmoud Darwich, Marie Cardinal, or René Depestre will compose this edition. Le Livre sur la Place 2026 will take place from 11 to 13 September in Nancy, co-chaired by Israeli historian Élie Barnavi and Palestinian intellectual Elias Sanbar. The event aims to place dialogue, international literature, and major contemporary fractures at the heart of this first major literary meeting of the year. Maillage, a new festival devoted to contemporary literatures, will take place from 25 to 27 September 2026 at the Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris. Mohamed Mbougar Sarr will be the guest of honor, alongside Mathieu Belezi, Jérôme Ferrari, Kiyémis, Rim Battal, Diaty Diallo, or Dinaw Mengestu. The Gribouillis Festival 2026 will take place in Bordeaux from 10 to 13 September 2026, with ten exhibitions and 80 authors and authors participating. The festival will extend beyond these four days, with 60 publishing houses and bookstores participating. Lectures - Festival du livre du Haut-Quercy will return for its ninth edition from 11 to 13 September 2026 between Martel and its surroundings. The event will feature six novels, six readings carried by professional actors, and as many meetings with the authors. StoryHeaven, a new festival devoted to romance, fantasy, and romanticasy, will take place in Brussels on 5 and 6 September 2026. The event will feature authors, publishers, dedications, and a programming that aims to transform the traditional book fair into a participatory experience. Lire en Poche 2026 will return to Gradignan for its 22nd edition from 9 to 11 October, with Mathias Malzieu as godfather. The event will feature a hundred French and foreign authors and authors, with 32,000 visitors expected. Escales Littéraires, a space dedicated to travel books, will be installed at the Porte de Versailles from 15 to 17 September 2026. The event will gather professionals from the sector who have become authors and contributors to guides, who will present and dedicate their books during the three days of the fair. La Prairie aux Livres will gather authors, publishers, illustrators, and artists in the Prairie au Duc quarter, on the island of Nantes, from 25 to 27 September 2026. The festival will feature dedications, workshops, performances, exhibitions, and musical meetings. Other events include the European Authors' Day from 11 November to 12 December 2026, the Museum of the Cat by Philippe Geluck in Brussels, and the Codex Boturini exhibited at the BnF museum.