François Hébert, co-founder and publisher of the independent publishing house Les Herbes Rouges, an important figure in the world of poetry in Quebec, is no more.
The 73-year-old man died of an illness on Saturday in Verdun, told the To have to Roxane Desjardins, who was appointed Executive Director last April. “He had announced several times his intention to continue publishing until his death. He knew he had to prepare, ”says his successor.
François Hébert founded Les Herbes Rouges in 1968 with his brother, Marcel Hébert, who died in 2007. It was initially a literary review and the publishing house was then added ten years later. After more than 50 years of activity, there is a catalog of nearly 600 titles. “What Marcel and François wanted was to give a place to a literature that they did not see elsewhere in Quebec,” says Roxane Desjardins. Their bias was not to take a position and to approach the text from the point of view of form ”.
He was a man of great discretion, tells the To have to the writer and poet Carole David, and who did not feed the beast of stardom despite the important place he occupied in the world of poetry. “He was a very rigorous, honest and uncompromising man. He was quite ascetic, his whole life was devoted to literature, ”says the one who had known him for years, and who published her first collection with the publishing house in 1991.
François Hébert was looking to publish original and daring projects, adds Roxane Desjardins. “Unity is really in the work of the form. From poetry, to novel, to essay and even to theater, it was possible to move between forms because there was no absolute priority given to a literary genre, ”she says.
He did not hesitate to refuse the manuscripts of his writers if the level was not good enough, and this without complacency. “What is extraordinary is that the authors have, after a few books, integrated a way of working, says Carole David. We all had our inner François Hébert, we corrected ourselves ”.
She stayed in touch with him until the very end. “He was always so passionate,” she says. He was in the excess of work, but he was not in the excess of pride. But in the end, I felt more and more that it was important for him that there was a sequel to Les Herbes Rouges ”.
The poet Guy Marchamps paid tribute to him on social networks in the form of a small poem.
“François Hébert lifted the markers
he walked quietly
in the forests of poetry
he had the eye of the lynx
and the falcon’s wings
he boned the partridges of the soul
smiling like the Mona Lisa
he was a considerable passer
the red grasses line his path ”.
He is survived by his sister Monique, the team of Les Herbes Rouges, his relatives as well as the writers of the publishing house.