In the public square, the storm is brewing: will all Quebec authors now have to pay a contribution to the Union of Quebec Writers and Writers (UNEQ)? The president, Suzanne Aubry, who has worked for a long time within SARTEC as a screenwriter and president of the union there too, clearly outlines the challenges in the sights of the Union with regard to the rights and duties of the various stakeholders in the complex world of writing, where she excels.
For my part, I have published seven books. If the UNEQ retroactively collected 2.5 or 5% of my “revenues”, a hundred dollars, at most, would end up in its coffers. I didn’t add much to SARTEC and ARRQ either during the 40 years I worked in television. However, within these associations, despite a subtle class system, I belonged. But me, a member of the venerable UNEQ?
The question arises, however. Can we call ourselves a writer, writer? This title has always had a sacred je ne sais quoi for me, a keyword giving access to distinct universes, invented in solitude by magicians of writing. Some have obtained this recognition by a unique work, others have sown in our imagination characters and unforgettable interior landscapes forming a corpus.
I read on its official website that the UNEQ brings together 1,600 professionals in Quebec literature. I opened my Little Robert, just to see what this essential companion had to say about the writer. Quite interesting, especially the quotes, including this one, from Valéry: “An author, even of the highest talent, even if he had the greatest success, is not necessarily a ‘writer’. »
Are we a writer because we have been published? To tell the truth, I believed the race to be rare and, if it had to belong to any community whatsoever, I imagined it to be secret, even anonymous. I grafted onto it a spirit of individual freedom and the courage to assume the price.
Curious, I went to see “how to become a member of the UNEQ”. I learn that there are four categories in which the board of directors can decide to accept an application: holder, member, associate, honorary member if one has obtained the approval of one’s peers. The ISBN number, ie the identification number attesting to the international registration of a book, is essential, it is in a way the certificate justifying membership.
And then there is a minimum number of pages required and an order of magnitude attached to the entry price. It gave me the impression of a vicious circle: all these “publishers” in the big companies who enjoy guaranteed income and social advantages thanks to the sale of books written by the sweat of others, and then, too many, these va-nu-pieds passionate about writing, all in the same boat…
Union solidarity at the base of this giant industry is very beautiful to imagine. I could probably be accepted as a full member to vote on the matter as many have decided to do, I would only have to pay $150 a year, or maybe I would be entitled to a discount because of my age, but to do so I would have to call myself a writer and I feel a little embarrassed about it. It would be to make a few more pennies, because recognition cannot be bought.
On the other hand, do it for others? That they have a better chance? Perhaps another cookbook is missing on the market to learn how to become a writer without being published or, even more difficult, how to be published if you are a writer. Or one of our powerful houses could also commission a member of the journalistic corps gifted with fiction to write an Orwellian novel whose plot revolves around the fact that all members of UNEQ are either on strike or locked out. It is to be continued. The reflection in progress is far from being futile.