The Paris Book Festival, which puts Quebec in the spotlight this year, represents an exceptional showcase for local writers, but also for publishers, an increasing number of whom are exporting to France . Their view of literature is seen as uninhibited and refreshing in France, where traditions weigh heavily.
“I have the impression that a new generation of Quebec houses feels less the weight of history and standards, which can be more restrictive” in Europe, said Camille Paulian, co-founder of Trames, a French communications agency. which represents publishers in Quebec. She spoke Saturday morning during a panel celebrating the “vitality” of the Quebec book industry.
Alongside him, Anne-Isabelle Tremblay, head of the Parisian Gaston-Miron university library, dedicated to Quebec literature, and Geneviève Pigeon, president of the National Association of Book Publishers (ANEL), agreed. They highlighted the successes across the Atlantic of houses like La Peuplade, Mémoire d’encrier, Le Quartanier and Héliotrope, all founded in the early 2000s.
Territory and Americanness
“The form is perhaps less fixed in Quebec, where we observe a decompartmentalization of genres among almost all publishers,” noted Mme Tremblay. Detective novels flirt with fantasy, for example, without collections being associated with a particular genre. It’s the same for poetry or prose texts: everything mixes very well. »
The librarian adds in an interview that the houses mentioned above “defend a free and contemporary literature in its relationship to language, with eminently Quebecois themes which are today appreciated by the French, such as the territory and Americanness”.
In addition, while the French literary community is “going through a difficult period” marked by a drop in sales, as the Minister of French Culture pointed out on Thursday, in Quebec, Quebec books are selling more and more each year. “Our publishers are buoyed by this positive wave which encourages them to turn to other markets,” adds Anne-Isabelle Tremblay.
“Domino effect”
The current success of Quebec houses in France is also attributable to the efforts of ANEL and its Québec édition committee. With the help of public funding, notably from SODEC, this committee supports publishers in their export projects as well as at several book fairs around the world each year.
Karine Vachon, director of ANEL, who has worked with Québec édition for nearly 15 years, observes “a gradual and sustained increase” in export efforts to Europe by Quebec publishers. The awards recently won by authors from here in France and the growing place occupied by Quebec culture in its media ecosystem have something to do with it, but she maintains that there “has been a domino effect” since the 1990s.
The French know well the authors who have been published here under transfer of rights, like Kevin Lambert. They then help us offer the rest of our catalog to booksellers.
“At the time, more specialized subjects, such as personal growth, did well internationally, with Éditions de l’Homme. As our publishers realized that it was possible to export in this way, both financially and logistically, they began to sign distribution agreements. Today, we see them throughout our literature. »
Héliotrope is among the last to launch, in the fall of 2023. France Cyrenne, sales manager for Europe at Héliotrope, who met at the festival, explains that after 18 years, the house had “enough maturity” to break through this new market. “The French know well the authors who have been published here under transfer of rights, like Kevin Lambert. They then help us offer the rest of our catalog to booksellers. »
Moreover, if Kevin Lambert won the Médecis prize last year, it is a safe bet that it is thanks to Nouvel Attila, his French publisher, who was well equipped to make him known to the selection committees. This is what made Karine Vachon say that the “next step to take is to have Quebec publishers in the running for the major prizes”. “It’s not yet won, but I’m sure we’ll get there. »