There are literary constellations that do not merely illuminate a landscape but redraw it, shifting the very cartography of the imaginary.
The Anthologie des Imaginales, now a seventeen‑volume fresco of French and Francophone speculative creation, belongs to that rare species of cultural artefacts that behave less like books and more like long‑duration seismic events.
To read them in sequence is to witness the evolution of an entire ecosystem—its anxieties, its obsessions, its metamorphoses—captured annually like the rings of a tree that has grown in the enchanted forest of Épinal.
Since 2009, when Rois & Capitaines (Kings and Captains) inaugurated the series with the solemnity of a medieval banner unfurled in the wind, the Imaginales anthologies have functioned as a kind of spiritual MRI of the French imaginary.
Each volume, anchored in a theme that is both archetypal and provocatively contemporary, offers a snapshot of how writers understand the world at that precise moment: its fractures, its hopes, its mythologies.
The titles alone form a poetic chronicle of shifting sensibilities — Magiciennes et Sorciers (Sorceresses and Sorcerers), Victimes et Bourreaux (Victims and Executioners), Reines et Dragons (Queens and Dragons), Fées et Automates ( Fairies and Automata), Elfes et Assassins (Elves and Assassins), Bardes et sirènes (Bards and Sirens), Trolls et Licornes (Trolls and Unicorns), Afrofuturisme, Memento Mori, Hors Normes (Beyond Standards), etc.
One could teach an entire seminar on the intellectual history of French speculative fiction using nothing but these seventeen subtitles as the syllabus.
Behind this continuity lies a relay of artistic direction: Stéphanie Nicot, whose early stewardship gave the series its ethical backbone and thematic audacity, and Gilles Francescano, whose recent volumes have embraced a more architectural, almost urbanistic vision of the imaginary.
Under their guidance, the anthologies have become less a festival accessory and more a cultural institution—an annual ritual of self‑examination for a community that thrives on reinvention.
And then comes 2026: “Alter Ego”.
A title that reads like a philosophical trapdoor.
A subtitle—Et si l’Autre n’existait pas ? (What if the Other Didn’t Exist?) —that opens into a vertiginous abyss.
Gilles Francescano’s curation this year feels like a deliberate tightening of the lens, a demand that the imaginary stop gazing outward toward dragons and distant planets and instead confront the trembling architecture of identity itself.
What remains when the Other dissolves?
What stories survive when alterity is no longer a given but a question?
The contributors form a chorus of distinct timbres, each approaching the theme as if testing the tensile strength of empathy.
Christopher Bouix, the festival’s coup de cœur, writes with the urgency of someone watching the world from a steel island in the Rhône, wondering whether the next extinction will be narrated or merely endured.
Morgane Caussarieu brings her trademark feral lyricism; Jeanne‑A Debats and Olivier Cotte weave a collaborative text that behaves like a double helix; Sara Doke, Inès Heck, Katia Lanero Zamora, Nathalie Le Gendre, Benjamin Lupu, Floriane Soulas, Liv Stone, and A.J. Twice each contribute a facet to this prismatic meditation on identity’s fragile scaffolding.
As always, the anthology refuses the tyranny of rigid story titles, preferring instead a fluid architecture where each author’s section becomes a chamber in a larger cathedral.
The result is not a collection of discrete tales but a single, many‑voiced narrative organism—an exploration of the Other that becomes, paradoxically, a mirror held up to the reader.
Seventeen volumes in, the Imaginales Anthologies have become a chronicle of how France dreams.
They chart the migration of its collective imagination from kings and captains to borders and futures, from mythic creatures to the spectral politics of identity.
Alter Ego, the 2026 edition, is not merely the latest installment; it is a culmination, a moment when the imaginary turns inward and asks the most dangerous question of all:
Who are we when no one is watching?
In this sense, the anthology is more than a literary gesture.
It is a cultural barometer, a philosophical provocation, and—perhaps most importantly—a testament to the festival’s unwavering commitment to voices that might otherwise remain unheard.
Through these seventeen volumes, the Imaginales have built not just a tradition but a living archive of the speculative soul of France.
The Imaginales Anthologies: An Overview
The Anthologie des Imaginales is a prestigious annual collection of short stories tied to Les Imaginales, one of France’s premiere speculative fiction festivals held annually in Épinal. The anthology highlights contemporary French and Francophone voices in fantasy, science fiction, and horror/fantastique.
Key History & Facts
First Anthology Published: 2009, Rois & Capitaines (Kings and Captains)
Total Volumes published: 17 volumes have been published up to and including the latest 2026 edition.
Publishers: Primarily published initially by Éditions Mnémos in partnership with the festival, with recent years featuring editions by Au Diable Vauvert.
Primary Anthologists/Editors: Stéphanie Nicot (Artistic Director & Anthologist for Volumes 1–4, 9, and 11–12).
Gilles Francescano (Current Artistic Director & Anthologist for Volumes 14–17).
Complete Publication History (Vols. 1–17)
Each annual volume is built around a distinct central trope or philosophical theme.
#1 (2009): Rois & Capitaines (Kings & Captains)
#2 (2010): Magiciennes et sorciers (Sorceresses and Sorcerers)
#3 (2011): Victimes et Bourreaux (Victims and Executioners)
#4 (2012): Reines et Dragons (Queens and Dragons)
#5 (2013): Elfes et Assassins (Elves and Assassins)
#6 (2014): Bardes et sirènes (Bards and Sirens)
#7 (2015): Trolls et Licornes (Trolls and Unicorns)
#8 (2016): Fées et automates (Fairies and Automata)
#9 (2017): Destinations (Destinations)
#10 (2018): Créatures (Creatures)
#11 (2019): Natures (Natures)
#12 (2021): Frontières (Borders)
#13 (2022): Afrofuturisme (Afrofuturism) — Marking the 20th anniversary of the festival.
#14 (2023): Le Futur de la cité (The Future of the City)
#15 (2024): Memento Mori (Memento Mori)
#16 (2025): Hors normes (Unconventional / Beyond Standards)
#17 (2026): Alter Ego (Et si l’Autre n’existait pas ? / Alter Ego: What if the Other Didn’t Exist?)
The 2026 Anthology: Alter Ego
The 2026 edition is curated by Gilles Francescano and published by Au Diable Vauvert.
Table of Contents (TOC) & Summary
While the specific story titles are kept unique to the print distribution layout, the official collective summary presents stories framed around the concept of identity, empathy, and alterity. The contributing authors and their translated perspectives include:
Christopher Bouix (Festival Guest of Honor)
Morgane Caussarieu
Jeanne-A Debats & Olivier Cotte (Collaborative text)
Sara Doke
Inès Heck
Katia Lanero Zamora
Nathalie Le Gendre
Benjamin Lupu
Floriane Soulas
Liv Stone
A.J. Twice (Alric & Jennifer Twice)
(Note: As is standard with French speculative anthologies, individual short story titles inside the collection are often identically themed or left untitled beyond the author’s section dividers to maintain a fluid, overarching narrative experience for the reader.)
