The Espace Kréyolphone International Book Fair (SILEK) will hold its second edition in Paris from Friday, May 22, to Sunday, May 24, 2026, under the three-part theme «Preserving Memory, Writing the Word, Telling Tomorrow’s Stories.».

Three days of roundtable discussions, exhibitions, writing workshops, and public readings bringing together writers, publishers, and researchers from Martinique, Guadeloupe, and elsewhere.

Among the guests was the Martinican writer Jude Duranty, known by the pen name «Jid,» whose column «Kréyolad» has been published in Antilla for many years.

Philippe Pied

A Parisian cycling tour at three locations

SILEK 2026 kicks off on Thursday, May 21, at the MVAC Paris 13 with a pre-fair event hosted by the Jardin de Minuit book club, in tribute to Maryse Condé. The following day, Friday, May 22, the official opening night will take place at FIAP Paris (Sydney Room, 30 rue Cabanis, 75014); this date was chosen to commemorate the liberation uprising of May 22, 1848, in Martinique. The heart of the festival, on Saturday, May 23, and Sunday, May 24, will take place at the Digital Village (21 rue Albert Bayet, 75013) across three venues: Place du Village, Salle des Fêtes, and Salle Municipale. A post-festival film screening will close out the series on Wednesday, May 27, at the Christine Cinéma Club (4 rue Christine, 75006).

Memory, Writing, Transmission

The opening night on May 22 will feature two back-to-back panel discussions. The first, «Memory, Resistance, and the Writing of History,» brings together Gilles Denis Delage, Sophie Barthélémy (Mémoire d’Encrier), Rose-Marie Taupin Pélican, Jude Duranty, and Arnaud Ransay. The second, «Writing in Creole in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities,» brings together Jude Duranty, Éditions Orphie, Max Belaise, and Alexia de Saint John’s, the fair’s coordinator. A musical tribute to the band Perfecta, led by Catherine Cayol, will round out the evening.

Jude Duranty is leading a «Kréyolad» workshop»

Saturday, May 23, at 2:00 p.m., at the MVAC Paris 13, Jude Duranty will lead a writing workshop titled «Weekly Writing: The Kréyolad Experience,» focused on single-rhyme poems and haikus in Martinican Creole. The workshop, which requires online registration, brings to Paris the practice that Jid has been carrying out for over twenty years in the pages of *Antilla*, where his column «Kréyolad» has established itself as one of the few weekly features on Creole writing in the magazine press. The writer will also be signing copies of his book at his booth on Saturday at the Place du Village and on Sunday at the Salle Municipale.

Words and Imaginations in Motion

Saturday, May 23, themed «The Word,» will feature a publishers« exhibition, writing workshops, a public reading of excerpts from »Ces femmes que j’ai rencontrées, Volume II,« and an evening performance centered on the »Voices of May 22,” finalists in the international kréyolphone poetry contest. Three panel discussions will explore intimate writing and Creole modernities, and a performance by Gilles Denis Delage, accompanied by Brigitte Costa Léardé and Alain Koussou, will round out the evening.

Sunday, May 24—titled «Tomorrow: Imagination in Motion, From Book to Screen»—kicks off at 11:00 a.m. with a masterclass by Max Belaise (University of the Antilles), followed by a bilingual reading by Vincent Constantin. The evening will feature a panel discussion on literary adaptation, with Gilles Denis Delage, Adolphe Maillot, and Rose-Marie Taupin Pélican, followed by a screening of the documentary «Moi, Maryse C., écrivain noire et rebelle» by Dimitry Zandronis (Guadeloupe, 2012, 59 minutes).

An ecosystem driven by Kreyollywood

SILEK is a segment of Kreyollywood, a cultural ecosystem led by the association Les Ponts de l’Espoir (Hope and Bridges), which also founded the Kreyol International Film Festival (KIFF). The 2026 edition is supported by the Foundation for the Memory of Slavery (FME) and the French Development Agency (AFD), and is part of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs’ 2026 Latin America and Caribbean Week (SALC) 2026 organized by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Practical Information

Admission is free for the exhibitions and book signings. Free registration is required for the opening night on May 22 (online ticketing) and for the writing workshops on Saturday, May 23. The cost is 8 euros for the post-fair movie night on May 27 at the Christine Cinéma Club.

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