The Salon du Livre Africain de Paris, the Paris African Book Fair, known by its French acronym SLAP, returns for its 5th edition on 21 and 22 March 2026 at the Réfectoire des Cordeliers, 15 rue de l’École de Médecine, Paris 6th. This year’s special guest country is Angola, and the theme is African Youth. With more than 150 publishers and 400 authors expected across two days, and around twenty countries represented, the SLAP has established itself as the most significant gathering of African and Afro-descendant literature on the European continent. The Réfectoire des Cordeliers, a medieval refectory in the heart of Paris’s Left Bank, will once again become, for a weekend, a continental literary commons.

The highlight of this year’s fair will be the presentation of the Grand Prix Afrique 2025 on Saturday, 21 March at 5 p.m. at the Espace des Blancs Manteaux in Paris’s 4th arrondissement. Awarded annually by the Association of French Language Writers (ADELF), the Grand Prix Afrique, formally the Grand Prix Littéraire d’Afrique Noire, is one of the oldest and most distinguished prizes in Francophone African literature. Since Aké Loba first received it in 1961, past winners have included Bernard Dadié, Ahmadou Kourouma, Aminata Sow Fall, Mariama Bâ, Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Alain Mabanckou, Léonora Miano, and Véronique Tadjo. More recently the prize has been awarded to Hemley Boum, Nétonon Noël Ndjékéry, and Dibakana Mankessi. The prize is open to French-language authors from sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean islands, or to works focused on these regions; translations are not eligible.

The seven finalists for the 2025 prize are:

• Bahari Bora — Steve Aganze (Récamier)
• Transhumances — Bilguissa Diallo (Elyzad, Tunis)
• Journal d’un exilé (Diary of an Exile) — Amadou Barry (Julliard)
• Nation Cannibale (Cannibal Nation) — In Koli Jean Bofane (Denoël)
• L’Infirmière Véreuse (Tchila the Crooked Nurse) — Ate Safiou (Continents, Lomé)
• Paria — Carmen Fifamé Toudonou (Vénus d’Ebène, Cotonou)
• L’Invité au Goncourt (The Guest at the Goncourt) — Laurence Kielh and Pascal Ashuza (Lettres mouchetées, Pointe-Noire)

The shortlist is notable for its geographic spread — Tunis, Lomé, Cotonou, Pointe-Noire — reflecting the prize’s commitment to publishing rooted in the continent itself, not only in Paris. The presence of co-authors Kielh and Ashuza, published by Lettres mouchetées in Pointe-Noire, is a reminder that some of the most interesting Francophone African writing is being published far from European centres. This year’s jury is presided over by physician Pierre Bau, joined by Togolese art expert and writer Pierre Amrouche, Beninese writer Date Atavito Barnabe-Akayi, and writer and entrepreneur Charline Effah, among others. The winner will be announced at the fair on 21 March.