In 1999, Quebec hosted the Paris Book Fair, “the most spectacular event ever organized in honor of Quebec books,” wrote journalist Mario Roy at the time. Much water flowed under the bridge for a quarter of a century before Quebec was again the guest of honor at the event – now the Paris Book Festival – as announced last fall at the Montreal Book Fair.
Posted at 5:35 p.m.
We presented on Tuesday in Paris during a press conference in front of 200 guests the program of the festival, which will take place from April 12 to 14 at the short-lived Grand Palais, a temporary installation on the Champ de Mars with a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower city. . The program includes around 330 authors in 160 meetings, including around forty writers from Quebec and almost 70 publishers from the province of La Belle, who will be presented in the Quebec pavilion. We learn that this pavilion will resemble a wooden house with a contemporary touch.
Because this is a little similar to the idea: to discover the current production of Quebec publishing in all sectors (literature, youth, comics, poetry, essays), without forgetting those authors who are firmly anchored in the hearts of the French, like Miron , Tremblay or Ducharme. The Québec Edition committee that selected the delegation's authors had to make heartbreaking decisions, admits Geneviève Pigeon, president of the National Association of Book Publishers (ANEL), given the “stunning quality” of the literature here. “We hope to make Quebec's contemporary literature better known, to make it very diverse and to give people the opportunity to get to know these authors,” said the person present at the press conference attended by Michèle Boisvert, general delegate of Quebec in Paris, took part. “We are reaping the rewards of the past 25 years and want to highlight how our literature has evolved. »
In this delegation there is indeed a great diversity between established values and new voices and of course several writers who have won prizes in France in recent years, which in a way confirms a renewed interest in Quebec literature. The French readership will in particular be able to meet Éric Chacour, Alain Beaulieu, Dominique Fortier, Roxanne Bouchard, Martine Delvaux, Michel Jean, Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay, Denise Desautels, Hélène Dorion, Chrystine Brouillet, Alain Farah, Patrick Senécal, Kim Thúy. Larry Tremblay, Heather O'Neill or Michel Rabagliati…
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Dominique Fortier
Of course, Dany Laferrière, who was part of the delegation in 1999 before becoming an Immortal of the French Academy, will be present. I asked him about his impressions of this new invitation to Quebec and he replied: “I look like a veteran who fought in the 1999 war and who is returning to service in 2024, 25 years later.” My garrison seems decimated to be, but the new ones are perhaps more incisive and conscious than the generation of 1999. Because now publishing in Quebec has become more sophisticated and the concerns of the authors of this new wave seem to be more modern and universal and certainly very diverse. Lower expectations are therefore more likely. The new literary Quebec has arrived on the big stage of the French-speaking world and knows that writing cooks very slowly. »
Kevin Lambert, who marked the literary return to school in the fall of 2023 by winning, among other things, the December and Medici Prizes for “Let our joy keep,” will not be at the party, he confirmed to me, taking advantage of a well-deserved one Break after a crazy year. But more authors will certainly be added to this already well-staffed delegation, as publishers can propose authors (in a limited number) for signing during the event. Remember that this year the Paris Book Festival aims to welcome more than 100,000 visitors.
In the program of the Quebec Pavilion we note a conversation between Dany Laferrière and Alain Farah, a discussion on feminism (with Martine Delvaux, Titiou Lecoq and Camille Toffoli), a tribute to Réjean Ducharme (with Denise Desautels, Dany Laferrière and JM G Le Clézio ), Quebec crime fiction (starring Roxanne Bouchard, Chrystine Brouillet and Patrick Senécal), a trio of award-winning writers (Denise Desautels, Dominique Fortier and Larry Tremblay) and several discussions on territory, notably with Gabrielle Filteau-Chiba and Rita Mestokosho.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Martine Delvaux
In addition to the activities in the ephemeral Grand Palais, Quebec literature will also be on display in other places, notably in the Librairie du Québec and the Gaston Miron Library, which are institutions, but also in the Cité Internationale de la langue française in Villers-Cotterêts, who planned a musical encounter between Hélène Dorion and cellist Lola Malique and “Un dive dans l'encrier” by Dany Laferrière at the Institut de France – the author is also entitled to a presentation of her exhibition Un nomadic heart in the Heart of Paris, from the Pont des Arts to this institute.
In short: there will be a whole host of Quebec writers in the City of Lights in April, while the Paris Book Festival takes place on roughly the same dates as the Quebec Book Fair (April 10-14). But there is so much talent per square centimeter here that we can easily fill both events – that has also changed in 25 years.