A reader wrote to me this week to ask me where I find the time to read all these books I’m talking about. This is not the first time I’ve been asked this question, as inevitable as the literary rentrées are.
The truth is that a new school year requires preparation. My colleagues and I start receiving the programs from publishing houses and the first copies of the books that will be published in the fall at the end of spring. In our meetings, we bicker gently about sharing the titles, but this year, we mainly complained about the publication date of our September literary season, because there were so many good books coming out in August. So much so that I started reading them during my summer vacation in the countryside.
I will be told that I have trouble getting away from work, but how can I resist the new Dominique Fortier or Kev Lambert who are patiently waiting for me in the calm of nature, when reading has always been my favorite holiday activity?
In any case, it allows me to get ahead of the often hellish publication schedule. It also allows me, during a sleepless night – because the start of the school year, precisely, makes me anxious – to open a book that was not at all in my reading plan. It was Marie-Louise and the little Chinese of Africa by Catherine Larochelle, published by Mémoire d’encrier. A very short book that I read in one go, fascinating for its original angle.
This is a reflection on our relationship with others and elsewhere, based on a few letters from the 19th century.e and the XXe century, found in the archives of a missionary association in Rome by Catherine Larochelle, professor of history at the University of Montreal. You know, at a time when the Catholic religion encouraged the “purchase” of little Chinese children for the salvation of their souls wandering in pagan darkness? In these letters, sometimes full of mistakes, the behind-the-scenes of history is revealed. Women confide, the poor hope to see their generosity rewarded, sad or sick people ask in return that we pray for them, and some are really worried about the Chinese.
Despite all our preparation, the literary season is never completely written in advance. What I like most, in fact, is what I had not planned. Which often happens with first novels like Asbestos by Sébastien Dulude. A little gem from a mine in Thetford.
Dulude on tour
One thing is certain for this new school year: I won’t be chasing many Quebec writers nominated for major French literary awards. Last year, Kev Lambert and Éric Chacour were absolutely everywhere, it was crazy.
This year, there are no Quebec authors in the first selections of the Goncourt, Médicis, Renaudot or Femina, but Sébastien Dulude stands out by being on the lists of the Literary Prize The Worldthe Wepler Prize and the Première Plume Prize. Special mention to Emmanuelle Pierrot, in the running for the Discovery Grant from the Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation for The version that no one cares about.
I caught Sébastien Dulude between flights, because he is on a big promotional tour in France, where he is doing the circuit of bookstores and literary festivals. But as editor at La Mèche, he wanted to be there for the launch of Dorothy and the snakes by Hélène Forest, a new author from the house. So he came back to Montreal for 48 short hours, which I find very classy of him. “I couldn’t imagine not being there, because it’s a first novel,” he explains.
I repeat, a return to school requires preparation, but not only on the part of journalists, but also on the part of publishing houses and writers, if they want to attract attention.
It’s about convincing booksellers to read the novel in advance and support it, which creates a ripple effect of festival invitations, media coverage and sometimes awards.
“They felt thatAsbestos was a promising title, and the first good idea was to be there to present my book myself, to make my face known, says the writer. These bookstores are approached by hundreds of publishers, but it’s as if La Peuplade had delivered on its promises, we are accepted in their reading habits, even if it is a small publisher in terms of volume.
Moreover, a few days before going to France at the beginning of September, he learned that he was invited to the show The big bookstore hosted by Augustin Trapenard, where he was presented as the “revelation of the literary rentrée”, which always has an effect.
Watch Sébastien Dulude’s passage at The big bookstore
Childhood, territory, poetry (because Dulude first published as a poet) are the three themes that people talk to him about the most during this trip, where he will meet his readers one by one. “It’s dizzying, the amount of feedback we get,” he notes. A relationship between my book and the readers is being built, even if I find it a strong dose all at once. It’s special, to be greeted by Neige Sinno at a festival in Nancy! It goes beyond what I had dared to wish for, I feel like I’m learning a lot of things, but I said to myself that, while we’re at it, let’s go for it!”
And he realizes that he is following in the footsteps of Dominique Scali, Christian Guay-Poliquin, Kev Lambert and Éric Chacour, who are often mentioned to him, while Quebec literature is increasingly consolidating its presence in French-speaking Europe.
“I wouldn’t have imagined being among the few representatives of our literature this year, but I feel that bridges have been built. Before, there was something exotic about Quebec, but now, it’s presented as a global Francophone literature.”
To be up to date, I advise you to read Asbestosbecause we’re likely to hear about Sébastien Dulude for a while longer. But above all because you can’t go wrong: it’s really a superb novel.
Read ” Asbestos : the boys of summer, the back-to-school book »
Marie-Louise and the little Chinese of Africa
Inkwell Memory
160 pages
Asbestos
The People
224 pages