Events and festivals in France on October 3 and 4, 2026: in Mouans-Sartoux, in the Alpes-Maritimes, the free book festival draws 50,000 visitors and 300 authors and illustrators, on its usual first weekend of October.
Every autumn, a small town in the Alpes-Maritimes changes face. Mouans-Sartoux opens its book festival. Events and festivals in France on October 3 and 4, 2026: in Mouans-Sartoux, in the Alpes-Maritimes, the free book festival draws 50,000 visitors and 300 authors and illustrators, on its usual first weekend of October.
A free festival, 300 authors and illustrators
The Mouans-Sartoux book festival was founded in 1988, under the name Festival de l'Édition Régionale. Its name has since changed. It is held at the Centre Culturel des Cèdres, 77 allée des Cèdres, in this Alpes-Maritimes town. This year, the event runs over three days, from October 2 to 4, open to all, with more than 300 authors and illustrators expected. Talks are held over these three days. Around 50,000 visitors make the trip every year to meet them.
The rest of the weekend
In Melun, Melun Fête son Brie, the annual food fair dedicated to Brie de Melun AOP, brings together, this October 3, around a hundred producer and craft stalls, on Place Saint-Jean and in the pedestrian streets of the old town. Entry stays free. The Confrérie des Chevaliers du Brie de Melun organises the event every first Saturday of October, for more than twenty years now, before around 15,000 visitors. In Aigues-Mortes, in the Gard, the votive festival opens, the same day, nine days of Camargue traditions, between the old town and the Plan des Théâtres, with abrivados, Camargue bull runs in the arenas, encierros, bandidos, brass bands and dances. Pétanque contests and picnic lunches also enliven the medieval town. The event is organised by the town of Aigues-Mortes. The Absinthiades, for their part, bring together, in the town centre of Pontarlier, the historic capital of absinthe, a contest for the best absinthe, a collectors' fair and distillery visits. The Association des Amis du Musée de Pontarlier has organised the event since 2001. Formerly known as the Artisanales de Chartres, the Artisanat C'Chartres fair is the leading trade and craft fair of the Eure-et-Loir, at L'Illiade, the new exhibition park of Chartres Métropole. More than 500 exhibitors hold their stands there. Crafts, food, fashion and construction are on the programme, in a fair that remains a showcase of regional know-how.
On the Place de la Halle, in Vitry-le-François, the comic book festival Bulles en Champagne brings together, free of charge, under the town's renovated market hall, around fifty authors, publishers and specialised dealers for signing sessions, as well as exhibitions and activities for young visitors. The Numi's Club organises the event every first weekend of October. Les Halliennales is a festival dedicated to speculative literature, in Hallennes-lez-Haubourdin, about ten kilometres from Lille, at the Complexe Pierre de Coubertin, on rue Georges Pompidou. It has existed since 2013. This event welcomes, this October 3, more than eighty authors and illustrators, regional, national and European, specialised in fantasy, science fiction and the strange. In the marina of Erquy, in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, the windsurf, windfoil, wingfoil and kite regatta Erquy Fun Cup, previously raced over long distance on a mega-slalom course, switches this year to a slalom format. It used to be called WARP LD until 2023. The Centre Nautique d'Erquy took over its organisation that year, before renaming it, for two days of racing.
In Cognac, on rue Jacques Prévert, the street art festival Festi'Wall gathers street artists who paint new murals in public each autumn, as part of the Wonderwall trail that the association Éprouvette has run since 2013. Two days of festival are planned. In Granville, France's leading scallop port, Toute la Mer sur un Plateau has celebrated, since 2003, the opening of the scallop season, before more than 50,000 seafood lovers who come to taste, buy and discover the flavours of the Granville-Chausey bay. It returns every year to these fishing quays.