World Festival 2026 in Paris: tours of the HQ, a food court, workshops… the program

The World Festival is back in Paris from September 18 to 20, 2026 for its 12th edition. Tours of the newspaper’s headquarters, meetings with the editorial team, debates, workshops, concerts, and a food court will grab the headlines in the 13th arrondissement, with this year’s theme explored under the banner of “Feminine Plurals.”

Want to go behind the front page? From 18 to 20 September 2026, the Festival du Monde returns to the newspaper’s headquarters on Avenue Pierre Mendès-France in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Three days and more than a hundred events are planned to meet the people who produce the paper, tour its backstage, debate, roll up your sleeves at workshops, or simply enjoy the parvis activities. This 12th edition, dubbed Féminin pluriels, puts women and femininity in the spotlight.

The weekend week-end coincides with the Journées du Patrimoine, and the building itself is worth a few columns. Opened in 2020 and conceived by the Norwegian firm Snøhetta, the striking Le Monde Group’s bridge-building opens its doors to the public on this rare occasion. Guided tours let visitors explore the workspaces and the newsroom behind the scenes. A family-friendly tour and an English-language tour are added to this year’s program. And to switch things up after dark, the Nuit Orange troupe Nuit Orange transforms the venue with its immersive show Une nuit au « Monde » !.

"Feminine Plurals" on the front page

The 2026 edition puts women front and center. Feminism, motherhood, sport and gender, violence against women, the environment, money, and cyberviolence are driving the debates held during the festival.

Friday evening, "Le Monde et les femmes" revisits the trajectory of how the newspaper and its newsroom have treated women since 1944, in the form of an interactive quiz. Saturday brings a fresh front page with the solidarity evening "Nos Voix Pour Toutes x Le Monde", organized with the Fondation des Femmes. After a session focused on violence against women, Jeanne Cherhal, Feu! Chatterton, Keren Ann and Youssef Swatt's are announced on the plaza. Proceeds will be donated to the Fondation des Femmes.

The lineup for the World Festival 2026

The highlights for these three days:

Visits to the World headquarters, including family-friendly formats and sessions in English;
Meetings with more than 60 reporters from Politics, International, Pixels, Economy, Culture, Sports, Video, and Le Monde des livres;
Debates and encounters around the theme "Feminine plural" and current affairs;
Journalism workshops, on the front page, on copy editing, and behind the scenes of the media;
Workshops for teenagers, focusing on photography, editorial cartooning, podcasting, and image verification;
Immersive show A Night at the "Monde"! with Nuit Orange;
Concerts, DJ sets and performances on the forecourt;
Charity evening "Nos Voix Pour Toutes x Le Monde" on Saturday, September 19;
Strolls and tours through Paris, weaving together history, environment, urbanism and design;
Food court and activities on the forecourt throughout the festival.

Among the free events on the forecourt, you’ll also find a blind test, several concerts, a folk-electro ball, a DJ set and chats with various editorial departments.

Free or paid?

The World Festival blends free-to-access activities, free events that require registration, and paid events. Debates and guided routes are priced at €15 for full price, performances at €19, while workshops run between €3 and €10. Reduced and preferential rates are also available.

For certain tours of the headquarters and meetings with the editorial team, registration is still listed as “coming soon,” with no date announced yet. So it's worth keeping an eye on the schedule.