Paris Book Festival 2024 | The Quebec landing in Paris

In 1999, Quebec was the host country of the Paris Book Fair, “the most spectacular event ever organized in honor of Quebec books,” wrote journalist Mario Roy at the time. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge for a quarter of a century, before Quebec was once again the guest of honor at the event – ​​now the Paris Book Festival – as announced last fall at the Montreal Book Fair.

We unveiled Tuesday in Paris during a press conference in front of 200 guests the program of the festival which will take place from April 12 to 14 at the ephemeral Grand Palais, a temporary installation located on the Champ de Mars, with a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower. . On the program, around 330 authors in 160 meetings, and among them, there will be around forty Quebec writers and nearly 70 publishing houses from La Belle Province who will be highlighted at the Quebec Pavilion. This pavilion will evoke, we learn, a wooden house, with a contemporary touch.

Because that’s a bit like the idea: to discover the current production of Quebec publishing in all fields (literature, youth, comics, poetry, essays) without forgetting these authors well established in the hearts of French like Miron, Tremblay or Ducharme. The Québec Edition committee which selected the authors of the delegation had to make heartbreaking choices, admits Geneviève Pigeon, president of the National Association of Book Publishers (ANEL), given the “breathtaking quality” of the literature of here. “What we hope is to make contemporary Quebec literature, very diverse, known, and for people to be able to meet these authors,” said the woman who was present at the press conference, in which Michèle Boisvert, the general delegate, also participated. from Quebec to Paris. “We are reaping the fruits of 25 years that have passed, and what we want to highlight is how our literature has evolved. »

There is indeed a great diversity in this delegation, between established values ​​and new voices and, of course, several writers who have won awards in France in recent years, which has confirmed in some way a renewed interest in Quebec literature. . The French readership will be able to meet notably Éric Chacour, Alain Beaulieu, Dominique Fortier, Roxanne Bouchard, Martine Delvaux, Michel Jean, Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay, Denise Desautels, Hélène Dorion, Chrystine Brouillet, Alain Farah, Patrick Senécal, Kim Thúy, Larry Tremblay, Heather O’Neill or Michel Rabagliati… (the complete list at the end of the text)

Dany Laferrière will of course be present, he who was in the delegation in 1999, before becoming an Immortal of the French Academy. I asked him his impressions about this new invitation to Quebec, and he answered me this: “I look like a veteran who fought in the 1999 war, and who is returning to service in 2024 , 25 later. My garrison seems decimated, but the new ones are perhaps more dashing, more aware of things than the generation of 1999. Because in the meantime Quebec publishing has become more refined, and the concerns of the writers of this new wave seem more modern and universal, and certainly very varied. Expectations, being lower, will therefore be more possible. The new literary Quebec has arrived on the big stage of the Francophonie and she knows that writing is very slow cooking. »

Kevin Lambert, who marked the literary return to school in the fall of 2023, by winning, among others, the December and Medici prizes for May our joy remain, will not be at the party, he confirmed to me, taking advantage of a well-deserved break after a crazy year. But to this already well-stocked delegation, other writers will surely be added, because publishing houses can suggest (in limited numbers) authors for signing during the event. Remember that the Paris Book Festival plans to welcome more than 100,000 visitors this year.

In the programming at the Quebec Pavilion, we notice a conversation between Dany Laferrière and Alain Farah, a discussion on feminism (with Martine Delvaux, Titiou Lecoq and Camille Toffoli), a tribute to Réjean Ducharme (with Denise Desautels, Dany Laferrière and JM G Le Clézio), crime fiction in Quebec (with Roxanne Bouchard, Chrystine Brouillet and Patrick Senécal), a trio of award-winning writers (Denise Desautels, Dominique Fortier and Larry Tremblay), and several discussions on the theme of territory, notably with Gabrielle Filteau-Chiba and Rita Mestokosho.

In addition to the activities at the ephemeral Grand Palais, Quebec literature will be seen in other places, notably at the Librairie du Québec and the Gaston-Miron library, which are institutions, but also at the Cité internationale de la langue française in Villers-Cotterêts, who planned a musical encounter between Hélène Dorion and the cellist Lola Malique and “Un plunge dans l’encrier” by Dany Laferrière at the Institut de France – the writer will also be entitled to a presentation of his exhibition A nomadic heart in the heart of Paris, from the Pont des Arts to this institute.

In short, there will be quite a landing of writers from Quebec in Paris in April, while the Paris Book Festival takes place on approximately the same dates as the Quebec Book Fair (April 10 to 14). But there is so much talent per square inch here that we can easily fill both events – that’s also what has changed in 25 years.