After 11 seasons on the first channel of Radio-Canada, The more the merrier, the more we read, one of the last literary programs in the Quebec media, will leave the airwaves in June. Marie-Louise Arsenault, meanwhile, will host a new talk show on Saturday afternoons starting this fall.
The idea of moving on to something else had been blooming in the mind of the host for at least two years, and it is now that she has decided to take the plunge, by mutual agreement with her faithful accomplice , director Marie-France Lemaine.
The right moment came when the team of The evening is (still) young announced that the show would end in May, which will free up a time slot in ICI Première’s Saturday evening programming.
“Until the last minute, I procrastinated. Three weeks ago, I would have said that I was going to do a twelfth season of The crazier we are. It is a set of factors. There is the end of The evening is (still) young, but also departures within the team which would have meant that this season would not have been the same”, says Mme Arsenault, who ensures that the decision comes solely from her – and not from the management of Radio-Canada. On the contrary, his superiors would have been prepared to extend The more the merrier, the more we read for several more years, is convinced the host, since the show recorded its best ratings in 11 years last fall.
In interview at To have to, she also salutes the audacity of the public broadcaster, which chose from the start to give such an ambitious literary program a chance. “When we were given the mandate, in the spring of 2011, we were told to talk about literature in all its forms and to put on music. I came back with a concept, and we immediately accepted it; there were not even any negotiations. However, a cabaret with actors and musicians is expensive. But I have always felt total freedom from Radio-Canada. »
Broadcast first in the evening, then during the afternoon on weekdays, a much more popular time slot, The more the merrier, the more we read had made it his mission to democratize literature with its lively transitions and sometimes festive tone. And if the books remained the common thread, the show sometimes also addressed more accessible themes, such as TV series or popular culture.
The approach has sometimes made purists in the literary world cringe, but Marie-Louise Arsenault fully assumes it: “For me, it’s important to make radio for the greatest number”, retorts with vigor the one who was born in a modest environment in Chibougamau. ” I am making a show for public radio, I don’t do a show just for academics. They are listening to us, and I know it. But it was clear from the start that The crazier we are was not a course in comparative literature. I leave that to the intellectual milieu. »
The worried literary community
Despite the criticisms, the fact remains that The more the merrier, the more we read was the last literary program on the airwaves of the public broadcaster since the end of the magazine Read on HERE ARTV. The announcement of his disappearance also saddened many players in the book world on Tuesday. Especially since Radio-Canada indicated in a press release that the program that would succeed it in the afternoon on weekdays would have a “cultural” mandate, which suggests that literature would be only one subject among many. others.
“I have nothing against TV series, but it’s nonsense that there are no longer any programs devoted to literature, when we know that sales of Quebec books have reached record highs. during the pandemic,” lamented writer Marilyse Hamelin, who notes that the media in general are giving less and less space to books.
Same story at the Union of Quebec Writers and Writers. By e-mail, the president, Suzanne Aubry, asked Radio-Canada to reserve “at least an airtime equivalent to that of The more the merrier, the more we read to dedicate it to literature from here and elsewhere”.
The state corporation has already announced that Marie-Louise Arsenault will remain at the helm of the Combat des livres jeunesse and the Combat national des livres. It was also clarified that the host will be piloting major interviews with writers and thinkers, which will air at various times over the next season.
For his part, M.me Arsenault ensures that literature will occupy a prominent place in his new project, Everything can happen, which will air Saturdays from 4 to 7 p.m. beginning in September. This talk show is described as a “big set” live, with several guests and several regular collaborators, where tight interviews, musical performances and lively discussions will mingle.