Quebec America blows out 50 candles | La Presse

There are professions that are combined with the rhythm of passion. And at Québec Amérique, this passion has been the driving force for the last 50 years.

To mark this anniversary, the Montreal house wanted to raise awareness of the publishing profession by launching an illustrated magazine of more than 150 pages, which is being offered free of charge these days in bookstores and book fairs.

This magazine, explains president Caroline Fortin, lifts the veil on a little-known profession – a shadow profession, in her opinion, since the publisher must step back behind the author. But behind the publisher, there is an entire chain of operations that leads to the creation of a book.

The particularity at Québec Amérique is that all those who participate in the development of the books – from editors to graphic designers – are in fact employees of the company.

“We are truly like a family. And my biggest concern is to keep my people,” confides Caroline Fortin, who in 2020 took over the reins of the company founded in 1974 by her father, Jacques Fortin.

Diversity and independence

When you enter the offices of Québec Amérique, you first enter through the café Chez l’Éditeur on rue Saint-Hubert, where the team moved in 2017. “The café was my project,” says the president. At the time, she traveled a lot and she remembers her time at Éditions Grasset in Paris, where a boutique greets visitors at the entrance. She also remembers this reader who went to their offices to buy a book. “I said to myself: this is what we need. I wanted a place where we can open the doors of the house, where people feel welcome. In New York, [la librairie] Strand has a cafe and I love that place.”

Intoxicated by the aromas of coffee, you can discover in this cozy space books among the more than 2000 active titles that Québec Amérique has in its catalog. Books on all subjects, essays, novels, children’s albums as well as books on knitting, since it has always ensured to remain a general publishing house, where you can find everything for all types of readers. Where the only watchword has been, since the beginning, to present diversified seasonal catalogs. “That’s the flavor of Québec Amérique: we are independent in everything we do. We claim the independence of voices that are not associated with anything other than our passion and the fact that it is a text that deserves to be read.”

In the nearly 35 years she has worked for the company, Caroline Fortin has had the time to see the profession metamorphose. With the internet and social networks, among others, which have profoundly transformed the environment and the ways of doing things. “Everything has changed,” she says.

Two years ago, Québec Amérique also began distributing part of its catalogue directly in Europe, where authors such as Jean-François Beauchemin have had great success — the French magazine Telerama has notably included in its list of the 20 best books of 2023 his novel The Wren (sold 50,000 copies in France).

Neither she nor her father could have foreseen all these upheavals. “And if someone asks me what it will be like in 10 years, I wouldn’t be able to answer the question.” Fortunately, the next generation is here. Caroline Fortin is lucky to have six shareholders at her side to ensure the future of the house. But for now, she continues to take things one book at a time.