One month after the Salon du livre de l’Outaouais passed in extremis in virtual format in the wake of Omicron, the first book fair in the presence of the year will take place, in a few days, in Trois-Rivières.
If there is feverishness in the air at the idea of once again making possible reunions in the flesh between writers and readers, a little fatigue and wear and tear are felt after two years of playing face-to-face/virtual lotto.
In the Trois-Rivières team, we breathe a sigh of relief. The event will take place in its optimal configuration. “In March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, we were the first to have to cancel. We took the hit, says co-director general and artistic director, Éveline Charland. I was afraid that this would be the end of trade fairs as we know them. The following fall, we went back to work to imagine a virtual formula. There was a lot of support and collaboration in the community; It was a great event nonetheless. »
After seeing Montreal and Rimouski hold face-to-face shows last fall, the burnt-out team was hopeful of being able to do so in turn. “In November, it seemed plausible and possible, observes co-director general and administrative director, Étienne Poirier. We started our preparation keeping in mind the virtual component as an emergency exit, we ran a lot. During the holidays, I began to resign myself… Until the announcement of the reductions in February. »
The 34and edition of the Salon du livre de Trois-Rivières will inaugurate the spring of the fairs. “We have planned wider aisles and set up the program in such a way as to manage the flow of visitors,” says Éveline Charland. Quebec City will follow suit in early April, then Côte-Nord (Sept-Îles) and Abitibi-Témiscamingue in May. It only remains to hope that the readers are at the rendezvous.
turn around
Last month, Omicron was invited to the head table of the Salon du livre de l’Outaouais. The team had to resign itself to going virtual. “We were knocked out for two or three days, it was a hard blow,” says the general manager of the Corporation of the Salon du livre de l’Outaouais, Mélanie Rivet.
When the holidays returned, the organization’s crisis unit met urgently to study possible avenues. “We had planned to invest around thirty places – church, bistros, cafes, cultural center – to avoid crowds and restore a little love to the city center. We were proud of our formula. »
End of December, closing of bars, restrictions in shops and restaurants. “It takes eight months to set up a show, a ‘flip’ is not possible with a few weeks’ notice. When we try to move activities directly from face-to-face to virtual, the impact is not big enough for all the energy we put into it. »
The small team rolled up their sleeves, building on the successes of the previous year, and found that “after two years, people are tired of the virtual. The war in Ukraine broke out just as the show was starting… The timing was not on our side,” reports Mélanie Rivet.
A little bit of light
Despite everything, something positive emerges from these two years of maneuvers on a bumpy road. The programmers have developed new proposals for activities, some of which, such as the virtual tales in pajamas intended for families, are reaping notable success. New know-how has emerged, the teams have gained in flexibility.
The hybrid formulas make the experience accessible to those who are not ready to return to a crowd. The virtual has allowed European partners to visit the fairs here. The websites have been refreshed, in some cases optimized. Ingenious initiatives have sprung up to bring literature to readers, such as “Audio Chapters,” which provide access to readings of short excerpts right from smart phones. The Trois-Rivières team has been nominated for the Arts Excellence award from Culture Mauricie in the “Cultural initiative of the year — virtual project” category for the user-friendliness of its platform.
Sales of Quebec books are doing well, literature being one of the rare arts not to have been too weakened by the pandemic. All is not black; a lot of ingenuity and resourcefulness were revealed in the ordeal.
And the magic of encounters will operate shortly to the great delight of readers, but also writers, such as Patrick Senécal, star of the shows, champion of long queues during signing sessions, king of karaoke in the evenings that follow .
The author is impatient to go and present his latest, the novel Floods. “The virtual mode, I lent myself to it in good faith, but when people leave their camera closed, the exchange is less rich. Me, I’m a showman, I like to see people react. A little weariness was starting to set in… I’m really looking forward to the resumption of regional shows, my favorites. »
The friendly writer hopes to find his readers. “We don’t know how people will react. Some may be hesitant to return to the salons, but there are those who eat their mask and who will be there! Fans write to me on my site, they have a lot of energy and they are as excited as me. We put the machine back in motion! »