Despite the rise of digital media over the past decades, print books have not only persisted but thrived. In countries as diverse as France, the Czech Republic, and Egypt, numbers of titles published annually continue to grow. While digital publishing has opened new paths to success, many authors still choose to print their books afterwards as a mark of authority, durability, and symbolic gratification. The print book’s continued importance shows that its value lies not only in carrying content, which digital media can easily do, but also in its material and symbolic power: to signal status, forge social bonds and express the self.
This workshop continues the conversation initiated by the Entering Literature conference, organized by the Oriental Institute (CAS) and CEFRES, and held at ENS Lyon in March 2025. That meeting explored the many thresholds through which writers “enter literature”. This time, the focus narrows to one of these thresholds: the self-made book. This workshop also marks the first meeting within a new project dedicated to the study of materiality of books, entitled Paper Bonds: Bookmaking for Kin, Friends, and Self in Contemporary Europe and the Middle East. The project is a joint initiative of the CNRS and the Czech Academy of Sciences, hosted by CEFRES in Prague.
ENS Lyon – Buisson (D8 003)
19 allée de Fontenay
69007 Lyon
Detailed programme of individual sessions of the conference can be found HERE)
