The general manager of the Montreal Book Fair, Olivier Gougeon, dreamed of it since his first steps at the head of the organization, three years ago. Already, in the fall of 2018, he was hoping for a Salon which, in addition to its traditional fair, would join all these book enthusiasts absent from the event for a multitude of reasons.
“This year, it was an opportunity to launch the Show in the city, a pilot project which is part of the Show’s development plans for the years to come,” says Olivier Gougeon.
The Salon dans la ville is a way to promote Montreal and discover its neighborhoods with nearly a hundred activities not only downtown, but also in Verdun, Lachine, Montreal-Nord or Ahuntsic-Cartierville. A bit like, he says, the Journées de la culture, “an extraordinary initiative” which promotes culture in various places in the province.
“I say it in all candor, my dearest goal is that in the long term, we can see activities in places as unusual as companies, at noon”, he says, just to start conversations. in all places around the book, not only in bookstores, libraries and cultural places, but also in places “where the book is not expected”.
Once a year, it’s the Montreal Book Fair. And it is everywhere that this enthusiasm must be felt. The essence of literature is to surprise us. We all have a book to share, a book that has marked us.
Olivier Gougeon, General Manager of the Montreal Book Fair
Although this version of the Salon at the Palais des congrès is “light” – lasting four days rather than six – it displays a substantial program, like the abundant production of the Quebec publishing industry, which is exclusively represented there this year. Flash capsules, cabarets on a topical subject and some 75 events are planned, in addition to the number of round tables and signing sessions with authors such as Chrystine Brouillet, Audrée Wilhelmy, Patrick Senécal, Fanie Demeule and Catherine Leroux. “This is the first year in a new place – bright, large, airy and therefore safe -, […] but with the same raw material ”, specifies the general manager.
It is also quite naturally that the theme of the meeting was imposed this year. “It’s been a year and a half that we haven’t met, 18 months that we avoid each other because we have to avoid each other … There, thanks to the positive evolution of the health situation, it is time , finally ”, affirms Olivier Gougeon, while stressing that the meeting is the very essence of the salons – places where we come to hear authors speak to us about the challenges of the time, their concerns, their dreams, their imagination.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, PRESS ARCHIVES
The Montreal Book Fair will be held at the Palais des congrès from November 25 to 28.
The Director General also calls for “everyone’s flexibility to live this first experience” face-to-face and in times of pandemic, which marks a turning point in the history of the Montreal Book Fair. It will be necessary to reserve time slots to gain access to the Palace – a limited number of visitors will be admitted every hour – and the activities will operate on a “first come, first seated” basis. As for the various activities of the Salon in the city, it will be possible to reserve a place on the site of the Salon du livre de Montréal.
In addition to the activities organized across the city and the event at the Palais des congrès, the Montreal Book Fair will not abandon its online offer launched last year, during the pandemic, to reach as many people as possible. .
The activities of the Salon in the City and the Online Salon will be held from November 13th to 28th. The Montreal Book Fair will take place at the Palais des congrès from November 25 to 28.
Visit the Montreal Book Fair website
This year, the Montreal Book Fair is more …
400 stands;
2,200 signing sessions;
1150 authors;
500 publishing houses represented.