Read Quebec

Montreal Review of Books – Fall 2022 Issue Launch
2022-11-02 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Toronto) | Ursa Mtl, 5589, Park Avenue,, Montreal, Québec, H2V 4S8, Canada
Montreal Review of Books – Fall Issue Launch
Wednesday, November 2, 2022, 7 pm
Ursa Montreal
5589, Park Avenue, Montreal (Québec) H2V 4S8
Free admission. In person and live-streamed (see below for details)
Join us for the launch of the Fall Issue of the Montreal Review of Books, with readings by featured authors Alexei Perry Cox (PLACE), Neil Smith (Jones), and Toula Drimonis (We, the Others). Hosted by Montreal Review of Books editor Malcolm Fraser.
In-person event details: Space is limited; first come, first seated. In accordance with public health guidelines, mask wearing for in-person events is optional, though encouraged. Ursa Mtl is at garden-level and have a small set of stairs leading into the venue. They unfortunately do not have a ramp, but we are happy to help accommodate folks to the best of our ability. Please let us know if you require assistance with the stairs. Doors will open at 6:30 pm.
Live streaming details: The event will be live-streamed to our YouTube account, no prior registration is required. Tune in at 7 pm on November 2, 2022, to view and participate in the Q&A via the chat function.
Explore other 2022 Holiday Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.
We look forward to seeing you on November 2nd!
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Toula Drimonis is a Montreal-based opinion columnist, writer and news producer. A former news director for TC Media, she has reported and written on politics, social justice, and women’s issues for national and international publications. She has worked in television, radio, and print in all three of her languages, and has appeared on TV as both panelist and contributor to English and French-language current-affairs and cultural news shows.
Alexei Perry Cox is a writer and teacher and organizer. She is the author of Night 3 | اليوم الرابع (Centre for Expanded Poetics), Re:Evolution (Gap Riot Press), Finding Places to Make Places (Vallum), as well as the full length collection Under Her (Insomniac Press). PLACE is now out from Noemi Press. Her poetry and criticism has graced the pages of a wide variety of publications, including Jouranl Safar (جورنال سفر), Arc Poetry Magazine, Moko Magazine, Carte Blanche and The Georgia Review. At the core of her makings is the belief that we imagine relationally, sometimes with words and sometimes with graze.
Neil Smith is a Canadian writer and translator. His novel Boo, published in 2015, won the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction. Boo was also nominated for a Sunburst Award and the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award, and was longlisted for the Prix des libraires du Québec. Smith published his debut book, the short story collection Bang Crunch, in 2007. It was chosen as a best book of the year by the Washington Post and the Globe and Mail, won the McAuslan First Book Prize from the Quebec Writers’ Federation, and was a finalist for the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction. Three stories in the book were also nominated for the Journey Prize. Smith also works as a translator, from French to English. The Goddess of Fireflies, his translation of Geneviève Pettersen’s novel La déesse des mouches à feu, was nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award for translation.
Thank you to our generous funders, partners, and sponsors!

Atwater Poetry Project – Holiday Book Fair Special Edition
2022-11-03 19:00 - 20:00 | Atwater Library, 4023 Tupper Street, Westmount, Québec, H3Z 1T4, Canada
Thursday, November 3, 2022, 7 pm
Atwater Library and Computer Centre, Adair Auditorium
(4023 Tupper Street, Westmount) Free, no registration required
Join us for a special edition of the Atwater Poetry Project series, in the Adair Auditorium of the Atwater Library and Computer Centre. This evening of new writing will feature poets Prathna Lor (Emanations), River Halen (Dream Rooms), and Trynne Delaney (the half-drowned), with readings moderated by APP curator, Faith Paré.
In-person event details: Space is limited; first come, first seated. In accordance with public health guidelines, mask wearing for in-person events is optional, though encouraged. The Atwater Library and Adair Auditorium are accessible by elevator. Be sure to use the entrance on 4023 Tupper Street, around the corner from Atwater Avenue. For elevator access, use the accessible entrance in the alley off Tupper.
Live streaming details: The event will be live-streamed to our YouTube account, no prior registration is required. Tune in at 7 pm on November 3, 2022, to view and participate in the Q&A via the chat function.
Explore other 2022 Holiday Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.
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River Halen is an award-winning, transgender writer of Catalan and Danish descent living in Tio’tia:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal. Their poems and essays dealing with relation, ecology, transformation, and sexuality have been published widely in Canada, as well as in the U.S., Australia, and in translation in Japan. Their first book, Match, was shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry, and their most recent book, Dream Rooms, a collection of essays and poems, includes works selected for Best Canadian Essays and was praised by the Bay Area Reporter as “unique and mesmerizing.” Visit their website, Facebook, or Instagram.
Part essay, part poem, part fever dream journal entry, Dream Rooms is a book about personal revolution, about unravelling a worldview to make space for different selves and realities. Set in the years that led up to author River Halen coming out as trans, this collection concerns itself with what sits on the surface of daily life, hidden in plain view, hungry for address—what it means to take a stranger’s pet rabbit to the vet in a year of accelerating extinctions, to lose your clothes to a moth infestation then buy a duvet made of fossil fuels, to learn your bookshelf is full of work written by rapists and rape apologists, to consider a birth control device as a narrative about bodies and their possibilities, then pull the string. Deeply queer and trans not only in its content but in its thinking, Dream Rooms invites readers to that place in consciousness where fear and desire, hidden information and common knowledge brush up against each other and are mutually transformed.
Trynne Delaney is a writer currently based in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). They hold a Master of Arts in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Calgary. Their work appears in The Puritan, CV2, Carte Blanche, GUTS, WATCH YOUR HEAD, and the League of Canadian Poets’ chapbook These Lands: a collection of voices by Black Poets in Canada, edited by Chelene Knight. They grew up in the Maritimes. the half-drowned, a poetic novella, was published by Metatron Press in spring 2022. Visit their website, and Twitter.
the half-drowned is a vision of a future at the end of the world where what survives is the shapeshifting love of family both given and chosen. Drawing on the Afro-diasporic ancestral knowledge of water and the urgency of desire, Delaney builds a glittering, speculative world where community holds through grief, where we must choose to fend for ourselves while also caring for others. the half-drowned is a genre-bending novella that crafts a polyphony of voices to speak to and through our lives and dreams in order to reach for the unspoken and unsayable and make it heard.
Prathna Lor is a poet, essayist, editor and educator, who has published in Canadian Literature, DIAGRAM, C Magazine, Jacket2, Poetry is Dead and Plenitude Magazine, among others. Lor is Poetry Editor at Shrapnel Magazine and holds a PhD from the University of Toronto. They live in Montreal, QC. Visit their website.
Emanations (Wolsak & Wynn 2022) is a meditation on the spirit of disaster, both personal and collective. Pushing always against commodification, against a consumable narrative, Prathna Lor charts the depths of the self, searching for an internal music. With a lyric style that emerges from the ruins of unwanted life, Prathna Lor has created a debut collection that is radiant to touch.
Thank you to our generous funders, partners, and sponsors!

Holiday Book Fair 2022
2022-11-04 11:00 - 2022-11-05 17:00 | McConnell Building Atrium, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
This year, the Holiday Book Fair is back – in person! After two years of virtual and hybrid book fairs in 2020 and 2021, we’re thrilled to return to the Concordia McConnell Building Atrium to present twenty overflowing tables of exciting new works from local publishers, authors, and translators, a full program of hybrid literary events, and multiple author signings. The Livres Babar Kids’ Book Nook is back, too, with a cozy pillow-filled spot for children to curl up with a book.
Produced by the Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec (AELAQ) in partnership with the Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF), the Holiday Book Fair celebrates the vibrancy of the English-language literary scene in Quebec, with local publishers displaying their titles, and Librairie Paragraphe selling books from Quebec writers and translators published elsewhere.
We have a great lineup of exhibitors this year, including: AOS Publishing, Baraka Books, Black Rose Books, Concordia University Press, Corner Studio, Guernica Editions, Studio Georgeville, Linda Leith Publishing, Maisonneuve Magazine, Metatron, Metonymy Press, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore, Pow Pow Press, QC Fiction, The Secret Mountain, SpokenWeb, Universitas Press, Vallum, and Véhicule Press.
The fair is open Friday and Saturday November 4-5, 2022, from 11 am – 5 pm, in the Atrium of the McConnell Building at Concordia University, 1400 De Maisonneuve Boulevard W. The building is accessible directly from Guy metro and fully accessible to wheelchairs and strollers. In accordance with public health guidelines, mask wearing for in-person events is optional, though encouraged, with hand sanitizing stations available at all locations.
90 local authors will be on site at Concordia on Friday and Saturday to sign books and chat, including Terry Mosher (Aislin), Peter McAuslan, David Bradford, Toula Drimonis, Ann Lambert, Christopher DiRaddo, and many more! Here is the full schedule of author signings.
Check out the Holiday Book Fair Events Calendar for full event details, including:
Montreal Review of Books – Fall Issue Launch
Wednesday, November 2, 2022, 7 pm.
Ursa Montreal (5589 Park Avenue) Free, no registration required
Join us for the launch of the Fall Issue of the Montreal Review of Books, with readings by featured authors Alexei Perry Cox (PLACE), Neil Smith (Jones), and Toula Drimonis (We, the Others). Hosted by Montreal Review of Books editor Malcolm Fraser.
Atwater Poetry Project – Holiday Book Fair Special Edition
Thursday, November 3, 2022, 7 pm
Atwater Library and Computer Centre, Adair Auditorium
(4023 Tupper Street, Westmount) Free, no registration required
This special edition of the Atwater Poetry Project series, will feature an evening of new writings with poets Prathna Lor (Emanations), River Halen (Dream Rooms), and Trynne Delaney (the half-drowned). Moderated by APP curator Faith Paré.
Eight Voices: Finalists for the First QWF Spoken Word Prize
Friday, November 4, 2022, 1 pm
4TH SPACE, inside the McConnell Building, Concordia University
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal) Free, no registration required
In an exciting world premiere, the eight finalists for the inaugural Quebec Writers’ Federation Spoken Word Prize will offer short performances showcasing their talents. The prize is open to all forms of spoken word performance, from storytelling to sound poetry, hip hop, and dub. Presented by the Quebec Writers’ Federation and Concordia’s SpokenWeb project, the event will behosted by poet and SpokenWeb director Jason Camlot.
Jazz Stories: En Direct
Friday, November 4, 2022, 3 pm
4TH SPACE, inside the McConnell Building, Concordia University
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal) Free, no registration required
Author and Radio Canada personality Stanley Péan will discuss his new book Black and Blue: Jazz Stories with host Jason “Blackbird” Selman. They will be joined by Anita Anand (A Convergence of Solitudes), Rana Bose (Shaf and the Remington), and Kasia Van Schaik (We Have Never Lived On Earth) for a musically inspired session of improvised live writing.
Wine and Cheese Reception
Friday, November 4, 2022, 4:30 pm
McConnell Building, Concordia University Atrium
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal) Free, no registration required
Following the book fair events in the 4TH SPACE, attendees are invited to join us for a wine and cheese reception in the McConnell Atrium, with guest speakers Bert Archer, Montreal Gazette editor-in-chief, and special guest author Stanley Péan. Guests are invited to mingle, peruse and purchase books throughout the reception. This event is in-person only and will not be livestreamed.
On Saturday morning, coffee will be offered to browsers with the compliments of the Holiday Book Fair.
The books of the participating authors will be available for sale at the in-person events, and a curated selection of books by Quebec writers will also be available through the Read Quebec online catalogue. This is a wonderful opportunity to find the perfect holiday gift for your loved ones!
Thank you to our generous funders, partners, and sponsors!

Eight Voices: Finalists for the First QWF Spoken Word Prize
2022-11-04 13:00 - 14:30 | 4TH SPACE, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
Friday, November 4, 2022, 1 pm
4th Space, inside the McConnell Building, Concordia University
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal) Free, no registration required
In an exciting world premiere, the eight finalists for the inaugural Quebec Writers’ Federation Spoken Word Prize will offer short performances showcasing their talents. The prize is open to all forms of spoken word performance, from storytelling to sound poetry, hip hop, and dub. Presented by the Quebec Writers’ Federation and Concordia’s SpokenWeb project, the event will be hosted by poet and SpokenWeb director Jason Camlot. For more information on the performers, see the finalist list below. (Note that finalist Liana Cusmano will not be performing at this event.)
In-person event details: In accordance with public health guidelines, mask wearing is optional, though strongly encouraged. The 4th Space is fully accessible from the Maisonneuve entrance, with an elevator located at metro level for those travelling underground.
Live streaming details: The event will be live-streamed to the 4TH SPACE YouTube account, no prior registration is required. Tune in at 1 pm on November 4, 2022, to view and participate in the Q&A via the chat function.
Explore other 2022 Holiday Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.
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Caitlin Murphy is a writer, director, and dramaturg. She has performed in one-woman shows, stand-up and sketch comedy, and a web-series she created called Mothers Try. Caitlin has also written and directed plays and short films and recently launched a digital collection of her pandemic-related art, Candy for Covid.
Debbie Braide is an energy and development specialist, spoken word poet, World Economic Forum Global Shaper, and British Chevening alumna. An Abuja Literary Society Poetry Slam Champion, she has performed for such organizations as the United States Embassy and VSO International. She is committed to sustainable development and gender equity.
Erín Moure is a poet and poetry translator. Her most recent work includes Chus Pato’s The Face of the Quartzes (Veliz, 2021) and her own chapbooks Retooling for a Figurative Life (Vallum, 2021) and Arborescence (Columba, 2022). Her translation of Chantal Neveu’s This Radiant Life (Book*hug, 2020) won the 2021 Governor General’s Award for translation.
Johanne Pelletier is a storyteller with work featured in Canada and the US. She is the winner of the GRIT 99-Second Story Grand Slam, the producer of Good Gyn-Bad Gyn: Women’s Health Stories, and an amateur boxing judge. She teaches storytelling to scientists and start-ups.
Liana Cusmano (Luca/BiCurious George) is a writer, poet, spoken word artist, and filmmaker. They were the 2018 and 2019 Montreal Slam Champion and runner up in the 2019 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championship. Their first novel, Catch and Release (2022), was published by Guernica Editions.
Lucia De Luca is an English teacher and spoken word poet. She was a finalist at the 2021 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam and recently participated in Brickyard Spoken Word’s mentorship program. As an organizer, she brought McGill University its first slam and, in the summer of 2022, oversaw the Grove Campus Poetry Show.
Raïssa Simone is a multi-disciplinary artist and writer based in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). She has competed at numerous national poetry slams and been invited to perform at multiple spoken word shows, including the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, Toronto International Poetry Slam, Hillside Festival, and When Sisters Speak.
Roen “Blu’Rva” Higgins is an award-winning spoken word poet, educator, speaker, and creative evangelist. As the founder of The Elevated Creative, her mission is to elevate others through creative literacy and help them find their flow and tap into their genius zone.
Thank you to our generous funders, partners, and sponsors!

Jazz Stories: En Direct
2022-11-04 15:00 - 16:30 | 4TH SPACE, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
Friday, November 4, 2022, 3 pm
4TH SPACE, Concordia University
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal) Free, no registration required
In this Holiday Book Fair feature event, author and Radio Canada personality Stanley Péan will discuss his new book Black and Blue: Jazz Stories with host Jason “Blackbird” Selman. They will be joined by Anita Anand (A Convergence of Solitudes), Rana Bose (Shaf and the Remington), and Kasia Van Schaik (We Have Never Lived On Earth) for a musically inspired session of improvised live writing, projected on the 4th Space screens.
In-person event details: In accordance with public health guidelines, mask wearing is optional, though strongly encouraged. The 4th Space is fully accessible from the Maisonneuve entrance, with an elevator located at metro level for those travelling underground.
Live streaming details: The event will be live-streamed to the 4TH SPACE YouTube account, no prior registration is required. Tune in at 3 pm on November 4, 2022, to view and participate in the Q&A via the chat function.
Explore other 2022 Holiday Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.
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Stanley Péan is the author of eight novels, a couple of essays (mostly about jazz) and eight short story collections, including the upcoming Crépusculaires (Éditions Mains libres, 2022). Since the summer of 2009, he has been piloting the program Quand le jazz est là every week night on ICI Musique, Radio-Canada’s all-music radio network. The original French version of Black and Blue: Jazz Stories was awarded the Prix Victor-Barbeau for best essay by l’Académie des lettres du Québec in 2020. Last Summer, the Festival international de Jazz de Montréal has presented Péan the Bruce-Lundvall Award, given annually to a non-musician who has left a mark on the world of jazz or contributed to the development of the music, through the media, the concert or record industries. Black and Blue: Jazz Stories will be available for purchase at the Véhicule Press table at the Holiday Book Fair, or online here.
Jason “Blackbird” Selman is a Montreal born poet, trumpet player and community worker. He is the author The Freedom I Stole (2007, Cumulus Press), Africa As A Dream That Travels Through My Heart (2016, Howl) and co-editor of the poetry anthology Talking Book (2006, Cumulus Press) which chronicles the writings of Kalmunity Vibe Collective (of which he is a founding member). He works as a teaching artist, conducting poetry workshops in schools across the Montréal area and beyond. His work is grounded in the themes of ethno-musicology, surrealist expression, love and the intersection of masculinity and emotional vulnerability.
Anita Anand is not the Minister of Defense, merely her namesake. She is an ESL teacher, literary translator and author from Montreal. Her first book, Swing in the House and Other Stories, won the QWF-Concordia University First Book Prize. A Convergence of Solitudes is her first novel, which will be available for purchase at the Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore table at the Holiday Book Fair, or online.
Rana Bose is a novelist, poet, playwright and retired professional engineer. He is a founding editor of montrealserai.com. His fourth novel, Shaf and the Remington, was released on September 25, 2022, and will be available for purchase at the Baraka Books table at the Holiday Book Fair, or online here. His third novel, Fog, was awarded the Best Canadian Fiction for 2019, by the Miramichi Reader.
Kasia Van Schaik is the author of the linked story collection, We Have Never Lived on Earth, and the poetry chapbook, Sea Burial Laws According to Country. Her writing has appeared in the LA Review of Books, CBC Books, The Rumpus, Maisonneuve Magazine, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. A postdoctoral fellow at Concordia University, Kasia is currently working on a book of cultural criticism entitled Women Among Monuments and is also co-editing an essay collection, Shelter in Text, which interrogates the relationship between the physical and textual spaces we inhabit. Kasia lives in Tiohti:áke (Montreal).
Thank you to our generous funders, partners, and sponsors!

Holiday Book Fair Opening Cocktail
2022-11-04 16:30 - 18:00 | McConnell Building Atrium, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
Friday, November 4, 2022, 4:30 pm
McConnell Building, Concordia University Atrium
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal) Free, no registration required
Following the book fair events in the 4TH SPACE, attendees are invited to join us for a wine and cheese reception in the McConnell Atrium, with guest speakers Bert Archer, Montreal Gazette editor-in-chief, and special guest author Stanley Péan. Guests are invited to mingle, peruse and purchase books throughout the reception.
In accordance with public health guidelines, mask wearing is optional, though strongly encouraged. The Concordia Atrium is accessible from the Maisonneuve entrance, with an elevator located at metro level for those travelling underground. This event is in-person only and will not be live-streamed.
Explore other 2022 Holiday Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.
Thank you to our generous funders, partners, and sponsors!

Get Lit! at Salon du livre de Montréal
2022-11-23 09:00 - 2022-11-27 17:00 | Palais des congrès, 1001 Pl. Jean-Paul-Riopelle, Montréal, Québec, H2Z 1H5, Canada
The Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec, the Quebec Writers’ Federation, and Librairie Paragraphe Bookstore are pleased to return to the Salon du livre de Montréal, November 23–27 at the Palais des congrès. Find us under the “Get Lit!” banner, kiosk #725, where we will have books for sale by over 125 Quebec writers and 40 publishers.
We’re also organizing book signings with local authors and translators, check out the schedule of author signings, in addition to all the exciting events scheduled below.
Our kiosk will remain open for the entirety of the Salon du livre, from Wednesday to Saturday from 9 am to 9 pm, and Sunday from 9 am to 5 pm.
Tickets for the Salon are available for purchase on-site, though it is strongly recommended to procure them ahead of time online to avoid line-ups. For kids 12 and under, you may purchase a free ticket. In accordance with public health guidelines, masking is optional, though encouraged.
To purchase a ticket, click the link below, and for all other things Salon du livre, visit their website.

Écrire au-delà de la langue maternelle – Writing Beyond the Mother Tongue

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2022
1:30 to 2:30 PM
Palais des congrès de Montréal, 1011 Jean Riopelle PI,
Espace littéraire

With guest speakers:

Baharan Baniahmadi, author
Oana Avasilichioaei, author and translator
Sylvain Neuvel, author

and host, Sherry Simon, author and translator.
Table ronde présentée par la Quebec Writers’ Federation, quels sont les avantages et les difficultés d’écrire dans une langue qui n’est pas sa langue maternelle ? Comment cet acte inhabituel influence-t-il l’œuvre d’un auteur ou d’une autrice, et ses rapports avec le langage dans son ensemble ? Tous les détails par ici.
Presented by the Quebec Writers’ Federation, join us for a panel discussion on what it means to write in a language other than one’s mother tongue, the benefits and challenges of doing so, and how this affects the work and the writer’s relationship to language overall. Details here.

Club de lecture insolite – Unexpected Book Club: Anglo-Quebec Lit
Friday, November 25th, 2022
3:45 to 4:45 PM
Palais des congrès de Montréal, 1011 Jean Riopelle PI,
Agora
With guest speakers:
Chantal Ringuet, author and translator
Gabrielle Garbeau, Librairie Racines
Arizona O’Neill, artist
and host, Annabelle Moreau, journalist and literary critic.
De Leonard Cohen à Mordecai Richler, en passant par Louise Penny, Rawi Hage ou Heather O’Neill, la littérature anglo-québécoise dépasse nos frontières et connait un grand succès à l’étranger. Mais outre certains noms réputés, elle demeure parfois méconnue du lectorat francophone. Afin d’aller au-delà des deux solitudes, trois amatrices de cette littérature — libraire, traductrice, autrice — vous proposent de partir à l’exploration de cette sphère littéraire en vous en présentant leurs lectures favorites. Cette animation est présentée en collaboration avec l’AELAQ (Association des éditeurs de langue anglaise du Québec). Tous les détails par ici.
From Leonard Cohen to Mordecai Richler, Louise Penny, Rawi Hage or Heather O’Neill, Quebec literature in English is known and celebrated beyond our borders. Apart from some well-known names, however, Anglo-Quebec authors and books can remain elusive to Quebec’s French-speaking readership. Reaching across linguistic and cultural barriers, three fans of the genre — a bookseller, a translator, and an author — explore this literary sphere by presenting their favourite books. This event is presented by AELAQ in collaboration with the Salon du livre de Montréal. Details here.

Traduire le Québec anglo – Translating English Quebec
Friday, November 25th, 2022
5:00 to 5:45 PM
Palais des congrès de Montréal, 1011 Jean Riopelle PI,
Agora
With guest speakers:
Daphné B., author and translator
Rachel McCrum, author
Jonathan Lamy, author and translator
Marcela Huerta, author
and host, Antoine Tanguay, Éditions Alto.
Table ronde présentée par la Quebec Writers’ Federation, cette table ronde avec un traducteur et une traductrice francophones et les autrices des œuvres originales en langue anglaise nous donnera l’occasion de discuter de l’importance de traduire la littérature anglo-québécoise en français, des défis que présente le processus de traduction et de l’influence qu’exercent les littératures anglophone et francophone l’une sur l’autre. Tous les détails par ici.
Presented by the Quebec Writers’ Federation, join us for a panel discussion with English-to-French translators and the authors of the original books on the importance of translating English Quebec literature into French, the challenges of the translation process, and the influence of the two literatures on each other. Details here.

Montreal Review of Books – Fall Issue Launch
2023-11-01 19:00 - 21:00 | La Petite Librairie Drawn & Quarterly, 176 Bernard O, Montreal, QC, Canada
Wednesday, November 1, 2023, 7 pm.
Montreal Review of Books – Fall Issue Launch
La Petite Librairie Drawn & Quarterly, 176 Rue Bernard O, Montréal, QC H2T 2K2
In-person and live streamed. Free, no registration required.
Join us for the launch of the Fall Issue of the Montreal Review of Books, featuring Sean Michaels (Do You Remember Being Born?), Chris Bergeron (Valid) and Mostafa Henaway (Essential Work, Disposable Workers). Hosted by Montreal Review of Books editor, Malcolm Fraser. RSVP on Facebook.
Sean Michaels is the author of the novels Do You Remember Being Born?, Us Conductors, winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and The Wagers; his non-fiction has appeared in The Globe and Mail, The Guardian, Pitchfork and The New Yorker. He lives in Montreal. Photo credit: Julie Artacho.
Mostafa Henaway, a Canadian-born Egyptian, is a long-time community organizer at the Immigrant Workers Centre in Montreal, where he has been organizing for justice for immigrant/migrant workers for over two decades. He is also a researcher and PhD candidate at Concordia University.
Chris Bergeron is diverse and fluid: after beginning a career in journalism and eventually winding up at the helm of the weekly cultural magazine Voir, she now dedicates her artistic vitality to Cossette, a leading global marketing agency. She offers speaking engagements on leadership, diversity, inclusion, and trans rights. Chris lives in Montreal. Photo credit: Geneviève Charbonneau.

Read Quebec Book Fair 2023
2023-11-03 11:00 - 2023-11-04 18:00 | McConnell Building Atrium, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
The Read Quebec Book Fair is back! Formerly known as the Holiday Book Fair, the Fair returns for its eighth installment on November 3-4 in the Concordia McConnell Building Atrium to present more than twenty overflowing tables of exciting new works from local publishers, authors, and translators, a full program of hybrid literary events, and multiple author signings.
Produced by the Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec (AELAQ) in partnership with the Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF), the Read Quebec Book Fair celebrates the vibrancy of the English-language literary scene in Quebec, with local publishers displaying their titles, and Librairie Paragraphe selling books from Quebec writers and translators published elsewhere. The Fair will offer fun for young booklovers, with a cozy, book-filled Kids’ Nook both days, and creative activities on Saturday afternoon. There will be a wine-and-cheese reception on Friday and coffee on Saturday morning.
The fair is open Friday and Saturday November 3-4, 2023, from 11 am – 6 pm, in the Atrium of the McConnell Building at Concordia University, 1400 De Maisonneuve Boulevard W. The building is accessible directly from Guy metro and fully accessible to wheelchairs and strollers. In accordance with public health guidelines, mask wearing for in-person events is optional, though encouraged, with hand sanitizing stations available at all locations.
Find below the full Read Quebec Book Fair Events Calendar, as well as author signing schedules.
Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Montreal Review of Books – Fall Issue Launch
Wednesday, November 1, 2023, 7 pm.
La Petite Librairie Drawn & Quarterly (176 Rue Bernard O) In-person and livestreamed. Free, no registration required.
Join us for the launch of the Fall Issue of the Montreal Review of Books, featuring Sean Michaels (Do You Remember Being Born?), Chris Bergeron (Valid) and Mostafa Henaway (Essential Work, Disposable Workers). Hosted by Montreal Review of Books editor, Malcolm Fraser. RSVP on Facebook.
Friday, November 3, 2023

Perfect Your Pitch Panel
Friday, November 3, 2023, 12 pm
4TH SPACE, McConnell Building, Concordia University
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W) In-person and livestreamed. Free, no registration required.
In partnership with the Quebec Writers’ Federation and the Writers Read series of Concordia University, a panel discussion on how to make successful nonfiction book and magazine pitches. Tips and feedback from the pros, followed by short workshops for pre-registered participants. With With Nour Abi-Nakhoul, Maisonneuve Magazine; Leigh Nash, Assembly Press; and accomplished journalist and author Adam Leith Gollner. Moderated by Matt Hays, Concordia University.

Perfect Your Pitch Workshops
Friday, November 3, 2023, 1:30 pm
Concordia University
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W) In-person. Registration required.
The panel will be followed by 90-minute workshops with Nour Abi-Nakhoul and Leigh Nash for pre-registered participants. Workshops are free, but pre-registration is required. Each workshop will be limited to 10 participants. A waiting list will be created if needed. Visit the event page for registration details.

Eight Voices: Finalists for the QWF Spoken Word Prize
Friday, November 3, 2023, 3 pm
4TH SPACE, inside the McConnell Building, Concordia University
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W) In-person and livestreamed. Free, registration required for livestream.
In an exciting live event, the finalists for the Quebec Writers’ Federation Spoken Word Prize will showcase their talents in short performances.

Read Quebec Book Fair Opening Cocktail
Friday, November 3, 2023, 4:30 pm
McConnell Building, Concordia University Atrium
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal. Free, no registration required. In person.
Following the book fair events in the 4TH SPACE, attendees are invited to attend a wine and cheese reception to mingle with fellow book lovers, peruse and purchase books.
Saturday, November 4, 2023
On Saturday morning, coffee will be offered to browsers with the compliments of the Read Quebec Book Fair.
The books of the participating authors will be available for sale at the in-person events, and a curated selection of books by Quebec writers will also be available through the Read Quebec online catalogue. This is a wonderful opportunity to find the perfect holiday gift for your loved ones!

Create Your Own Comic Strip!
Saturday, November 4, 2023, 11:30 am to 12:30 pm
Atrium of McConnell Building, Concordia University
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal). Free, no registration required. In person.
We’ll explore the basic building blocks to get you started on drawing and writing a (mostly silly!) comic strip featuring fun characters we’ll create together. Close up faces, word balloons, sound effects and more! For kids 5 to 9.

Getting Lit with Linda: Live podcast recording featuring guests Catherine Hernandez and Eva Crocker
Saturday, November 4, 2023, 1 pm
DeSève Cinema, McConnell Building, Concordia University
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal). Free, no registration required. In person.
In a first-ever episode with a live audience, award-winning podcaster Dr. Linda Morra will interview novelists Catherine Hernandez and Eva Crocker. Both authors will be available to sign books afterward. Co-sponsored by Montreal’s queer reading series, the Violet Hour.

Postcards to the Future!
Saturday, November 4, 2023, 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
Atrium of McConnell Building, Concordia University
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal). Free, no registration required. In person.
Mail a message to your older self. We’ll be designing with words and pictures a double sided postcard with a message you’d like your future self to know. It could be serious or playful or both, you decide what the adult version of you should know! For kids 10 and up.

Scarborough Screening
Saturday, November 4, 2023, 3:00 pm
DeSève Cinema, inside the McConnell Building, Concordia University
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal). Free, no registration required. In person.
In a pre-festival special event, Image+Nation Queer Culture, Montreal’s long-running queer film festival, will join the Violet Hour to co-sponsor this moving film, an adaptation of Catherine Hernandez’s novel of the same name.

Making Monster Heads – An Exercise in Slow Group Drawing
Saturday, November 4, 2023, 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Atrium of McConnell Building, Concordia University
(1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal). Free, no registration required. In person.
Together we’ll SLOWLY build a weird and wonderful bunch of monster heads that we can only create as a team! For all ages.
Thank you to our generous funders, partners, and sponsors!

Perfect Your Pitch Panel
2023-11-03 12:00 | 4TH SPACE, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
4TH SPACE, McConnell Building, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal
In-person and livestreamed.
Free, no registration required.
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
In partnership with the Quebec Writers’ Federation and the Writers Read series of Concordia University, a panel discussion on how to make successful nonfiction book and magazine pitches. Tips and feedback from the pros, followed by short workshops for pre-registered participants.
With Nour Abi-Nakhoul, Maisonneuve Magazine; Leigh Nash, Assembly Press; and accomplished journalist and author Adam Leith Gollner. Moderated by Matt Hays, Concordia University.
Leigh Nash is the publisher at Assembly Press. Prior to that, she was publisher at House of Anansi Press and Invisible Publishing, where she expanded the publishing program and shaped an editorial identity that has been met with significant critical acclaim and major literary award nominations. She has also worked for Coach House Books, served on the boards of eBOUND Canada and the Association of Canadian Publishers, and has taught book publishing courses at Humber College and York University. She has an MFA in Creative Writing and has published one poetry collection, Goodbye, Ukulele.
Nour Abi-Nakhoul is a Montreal-based writer and editor. She’s written for a variety of Canadian and American publications, and is currently the associate editor of Maisonneuve Magazine. Her debut novel, Supplication, is coming out next spring from Penguin Random House. Photo credit: Olivia Gough.
Adam Leith Gollner is the author of The Fruit Hunters, The Book of Immortality, and Working in the Bathtub. The former Editor in Chief of VICE, his writing appears in Vanity Fair, The Paris Review, GQ, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. Six of his recent feature stories have been optioned by Hollywood studios.
Explore other 2023 Read Quebec Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.

Perfect Your Pitch Workshops
2023-11-03 13:30 - 15:00 | QC
The Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec and the Quebec Writers’ Federation have partnered with Concordia University’s Writers Read series to present a panel discussion on crafting successful non-fiction book and magazine pitches. Featuring Maisonneuve Magazine associate editor Nour Abi-Nakhoul, Assembly Press publisher Leigh Nash, and accomplished journalist and author Adam Leith Gollner, the event will be moderated by Montreal arts and culture journalist Matt Hays. No registration is required for the panel, but space is limited.
The panel will be followed by 90-minute workshops with Nour Abi-Nakhoul and Leigh Nash for pre-registered participants. Workshops are free, but pre-registration is required. Each workshop will be limited to 10 participants. A waiting list will be created if needed.
Sign-Up Instructions
Please email Riley Palanca at the QWF to register, including the following:

Your name
Which workshop you would like to attend
For the magazine workshop, please include a draft non-fiction pitch, maximum 500 words, see details below
For the book proposal workshop, please include a 300-word synopsis of one non-fiction project and a 200-word bio, see details below.

Workshop Descriptions
Magazine Pitches with Nour Abi-Nakhoul
In the world of magazine journalism, crafting a pitch that’s succinct, relevant and compelling is necessary for getting your story idea out of your head and onto the page. Over 90 minutes, you’ll obtain personalized, in-depth feedback on your pitch from Maisonneuve Magazine editor Nour Abi-Nakhoul. Participants will learn about proper pitch structure, finding the right publication, email etiquette and how to effectively showcase your writing ability. Participants will be asked to submit a draft pitch prior to the workshop in order to receive feedback. Pitches should be around 3-4 paragraphs long; no more than 500 words.
Nour Abi-Nakhoul is a Montreal-based writer and editor. She’s written for a variety of Canadian and American publications, and is currently the associate editor of Maisonneuve Magazine. Her debut novel, Supplication, is coming out next spring from Penguin Random House. Photo credit: Olivia Gough.
Non-Fiction Book Proposals with Leigh Nash
A solid proposal is essential when it comes to pitching book-length non-fiction projects to traditional publishing houses. On the one hand, it’s great: you don’t have to write a whole book before you begin submitting! On the other, you can’t rely on a stellar manuscript to win over agents and editors. This 90-minute workshop with Assembly Press publisher Leigh Nash will help you pull together the pieces you need to craft a full book proposal that’s tailored to your publishing goals. Participants will be asked to prepare a 300-word synopsis of one non-fiction project and a 200-word bio and submit them in advance; these will be used as the basis for in-workshop exercises.
Leigh Nash is the publisher at Assembly Press. Prior to that, she was publisher at House of Anansi Press and Invisible Publishing, where she expanded the publishing program and shaped an editorial identity that has been met with significant critical acclaim and major literary award nominations. She has also worked for Coach House Books, served on the boards of eBOUND Canada and the Association of Canadian Publishers, and has taught book publishing courses at Humber College and York University. She has an MFA in Creative Writing and has published one poetry collection, Goodbye, Ukulele.

Eight Voices: Finalists for the QWF Spoken Word Prize
2023-11-03 15:00 - 16:30 | 4TH SPACE, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
4TH SPACE, McConnell Building, Concordia University
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal
In-person and livestreamed.
Free, no registration required for in-person event. Registration required for the livestream.
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
In an exciting live event, the finalists for the second edition of the annual Quebec Writers’ Federation Spoken Word Prize will offer short performances showcasing their talents. The prize is open to all forms of spoken word performance, from storytelling to sound poetry, hip hop, and dub. Presented by the Quebec Writers’ Federation and Concordia’s SpokenWeb project.
Explore other 2023 Read Quebec Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.

Read Quebec Book Fair Opening Cocktail
2023-11-03 16:30 - 18:00 | McConnell Building Atrium, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
McConnell Building, Concordia University Atrium
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal. Free, no registration required. In person.
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
Following the book fair events in the 4TH SPACE, attendees are invited to attend a wine and cheese reception to mingle with fellow book lovers, peruse and purchase books.
Explore other 2023 Read Quebec Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.

Create Your Own Comic Strip!
2023-11-04 11:30 - 12:30 | McConnell Building Atrium, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
Atrium of McConnell Building, Concordia University
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal
In-person. Free, no registration required
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
We’ll explore the basic building blocks to get you started on drawing and writing a (mostly silly!) comic strip featuring fun characters we’ll create together. Close up faces, word balloons, sound effects and more! For kids 5 to 9.
Vasilios Billy Mavreas (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist and creativity workshop leader specializing in jumpstarting inspiration through collaborative creative play. The author of four graphic novels and director of gallery boutique Monastiraki (1998 – 2021), he has been involved in the Montreal arts community since the 1980s.
Explore other 2023 Read Quebec Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.

Getting Lit with Linda: Live podcast recording featuring guests Catherine Hernandez and Eva Crocker
2023-11-04 13:00 - 14:00 | DeSève Cinema, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montrea, Montreal, QC, Canada
DeSève Cinema, McConnell Building, Concordia University
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal
In-person. Free, no registration required.
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
In a first-ever episode with a live audience, award-winning podcaster Dr. Linda Morra will interview novelists Catherine Hernandez and Eva Crocker. Both authors will be available to sign books afterward. Co-sponsored by Montreal’s queer reading series, the Violet Hour.
Catherine Hernandez (she/her) is an award-winning author and screenwriter. She is a proud queer woman who is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Indian descent and married into the Navajo Nation. Her first novel, Scarborough, won the Jim Wong-Chu Award for the unpublished manuscript and was a finalist for several awards including Canada Reads 2022. She wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Scarborough, which was nominated for 11 Canadian Screen Awards and won 8 including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Her second novel, Crosshairs, was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award and made the CBC’s Best Canadian Fiction, NOW Magazine’s 10 Best Books, Indigo Best Book, and NBC 20 Best LGBTQ Books list of 2020. Her third novel, The Story of Us, was published this year by HarperCollins Canada and was an instant bestseller. She is currently working on a few television projects and her fourth novel.
Eva Crocker grew up in Ktaqamkuk (Newfoundland) and currently resides in Tiohti:áke (Montreal). Her debut novel All I Ask was longlisted for the 2020 Giller Prize and won the 2020 BMO Winterset Award. Her short story collection Barreling Forward was shortlisted for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for Emerging LGBTQS2 Writers and won the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction and the CAA Emerging Author’s Award. She is a PhD student in Concordia University’s Interdisciplinary Humanities program.
Linda Morra is a professor of Canadian and Indigenous literatures, writer, editor, and literary podcaster who lives in Montreal (Tiohtià:ke). Getting Lit With Linda, which she co-produces with Marco Timpano, won the Canadian Podcasting Awards in 2022 and has been shortlisted for the People’s Choice Podcasting Awards this year. Photo credit: Nadia Zhang.
Explore other 2023 Read Quebec Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.

Postcards to the Future!
2023-11-04 13:30 - 14:30 | McConnell Building Atrium, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
Atrium of McConnell Building, Concordia University
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal
In-person. Free, no registration required.
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
Mail a message to your older self. We’ll be designing with words and pictures a double sided postcard with a message you’d like your future self to know. It could be serious or playful or both, you decide what the adult version of you should know! For kids 10 and up.
Vasilios Billy Mavreas (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist and creativity workshop leader specializing in jumpstarting inspiration through collaborative creative play. The author of four graphic novels and director of gallery boutique Monastiraki (1998 – 2021), he has been involved in the Montreal arts community since the 1980s.
Explore other 2023 Read Quebec Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.

Scarborough Screening
2023-11-04 15:00 - 17:15 | DeSève Cinema, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montrea, Montreal, QC, Canada
DeSève Cinema, inside the McConnell Building, Concordia University
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal
In person. Free, no registration required.
In a pre-festival special event, Image+Nation Queer Culture, Montreal’s long-running queer film festival, will join the Violet Hour to co-sponsor this moving film, an adaptation of Catherine Hernandez’s novel of the same name.
Explore other 2023 Read Quebec Book Fair events here, and discover more English-language books written, published, or translated in Quebec at ReadQuebec.ca.

Making Monster Heads - An Exercise in Slow Group Drawing
2023-11-04 15:30 - 16:30 | McConnell Building Atrium, Concordia University, 1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada
Atrium of McConnell Building, Concordia University
1400 Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal
In-person. Free, no registration required.
RSVP to the Facebook event here.
Together we’ll SLOWLY build a weird and wonderful bunch of monster heads that we can only create as a team! For all ages.
Vasilios Billy Mavreas (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist and creativity workshop leader specializing in jumpstarting inspiration through collaborative creative play. The author of four graphic novels and director of gallery boutique Monastiraki (1998 – 2021), he has been involved in the Montreal arts community since the 1980s.

Read Quebec at the Salon du livre de Montréal
2023-11-22 09:00 - 2023-11-27 18:00 | Palais des congrès, 1001 Pl. Jean-Paul-Riopelle, Montréal, Québec, H2Z 1H5, Canada
The Association of English-Language Publishers of Quebec will be at the Salon du livre de Montréal! We’ll have member titles available for purchase at kiosk #2206, courtesy of Saga Bookstore. Come by to discover new books and celebrate the province’s unique and vibrant English-language literary culture.

Tickets must be purchased in advance to attend the Salon. Entrance is free for QWF members!

https://www.salondulivredemontreal.com/exposants/aelaq

À propos du Salon:

Autour d’une communauté d’amoureux·euses du livre et de lecteur·rice·s en devenir, la mission première du Salon est de promouvoir le livre et le plaisir de la lecture comme biens culturels dans la société québécoise. Le Salon du livre de Montréal valorise le rôle essentiel des auteur·rice·s, des créateur·rice·s et des artisan·e·s dans le milieu du livre et contribue ainsi à faire rayonner la diversité de la production éditoriale régionale, nationale et internationale. Finalement, le Salon rassemble et mobilise les créateur·rice·s, la communauté professionnelle du livre et les lecteur·rice·s du Québec, tout en offrant des lieux qui favorisent la création, l’échange et le débat autour des enjeux de notre société. Les valeurs qui sont au cœur de notre mission sont le partage, la diversité, l’inclusion et le plaisir.

Écrire l’environnement / Writing the Environment
2023-11-24 12:00 - 13:00 | Palais des congrès, 1001 Pl. Jean-Paul-Riopelle, Montréal, Québec, H2Z 1H5, Canada
Presented by the Association of English-Language Publishers of Quebec, this dialogic performance of poetry in English, French, and translation will imagine writing the environment. Featuring Kaie Kellough and Chantal Neveu, it will embody language in its relation to land and space, and reflect on poetry’s radical stance towards a sustainable future. This event is curated and hosted by Klara du Plessis. / Présentée par l’Association des éditeurs de langue anglaise du Québec, cette performance poétique, qui se déroulera en anglais et en français, permettra d’imaginer comment on écrit et décrit l’environnement. Kaie Kellough et Chantal Neveu exploreront la façon dont le texte incarne la langue dans ses rapports avec le territoire et l’espace. Ils réfléchiront aussi à l’attitude radicale de la poésie à l’égard d’un avenir durable. Cet événement est conçu et animé par Klara du Plessis.
Visit the official Salon du Livre de Montreal website for more information and the link to purchase tickets.

mRb Summer Launch
2024-07-04 18:00 - 19:30 | Café Osmo, 51 Sherbrooke O., Montreal, QC, Canada
The Montreal Review of Books launches its Summer 2024 issue on Thursday, July 4th at Café Osmo (51 Sherbrooke Street West)! Join us for readings by Frankie Barnet (Mood Swings, McClelland & Stewart), Nour Abi-Nakhoul (Supplication, Strange Light) and Nora Loreto (The Social Safety Net, Dundurn Press).

Doors will open at 6:00 p.m., and mRb readings will start at 6:30 p.m. The authors will be available to sign books after the readings. Admission is free.

For those unable to attend in person, readings will be live-streamed on our YouTube.

We thank you for your continued support of the mRb, and look forward to seeing you there!

Artwork by Peter Krausz, detail from Sans Titre, 2023. Oil on canvas, 102 x 153 cm (40” x 60”). Collection of the artist. Photo credit: Paul Litherland.

On August 12th, I'm Buying a Quebecois Book!
2024-08-12 | QC
On August 12, discover a book from here!

Check back soon for details about Quebec Book Day, known in French as Le 12 août, j’achète un livre québécois ! We’re looking forward to sharing our Fall 2024 catalogue, which will include the latest releases written, published, translated and/or illustrated in Quebec.

: ReadQuebec.ca/Books

Read Quebec at the Salon du livre de Montréal!
2024-11-27 09:00 - 2024-12-01 17:00 | Palais des congrès, 1001 Pl. Jean-Paul-Riopelle, Montréal, Québec, H2Z 1H5, Canada
Read Quebec is returning to the Salon du livre de Montréal!

We’re excited to showcase some of the latest releases and bestsellers from participating local English-language publishers. Find us at kiosk #401 through the week at the hours below:

Wednesday, Nov. 27: 9 am – 6pmThursday, Nov. 28: 9 am – 9 pmFriday, Nov. 29: 9 am – 9 pmSaturday, Nov. 30: 9am – 9 pmSunday, Dec. 1: 9 am – 5 pm

Discover which authors will be signing at our booth by visiting the Salon’s website here.

A Duck in New York City – Musical Performance for Kids of All Ages
2024-12-07 12:00 - 13:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
25th Anniversary Celebration with Connie Kaldor and Paul Campagne, complete with anniversary cake!
Based on the Parents’ Choice Gold Award-winning musical picture book of the same name, a heartwarming children’s story and a dozen happy-go-lucky songs about self-esteem and determination. Follow a little duck from the Prairies who has a big dream: making it to New York City and doing his ducky dance on Broadway!

2024 Read Quebec Book Fair
2024-12-07 12:00 - 2024-12-08 17:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
The Read Quebec Book Fair is back! Join us on December 7th and 8th at Casa d’Italia (505 rue Jean Talon est) to discover the latest releases of new works from local publishers, authors, and translators. We’re also looking forward to a full program of literary events – including an interview with author and Mohawk activist Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel on Saturday, a comics panel with a stellar lineup, and QWF Spoken Word Prize Showcase performances on Sunday – as well as a multitude of author signings.
Produced by the Association of English-language Publishers of Quebec (AELAQ), the Read Quebec Book Fair celebrates the vibrancy of the English-language literary scene in Quebec, with local publishers displaying their titles, and Librairie Paragraphe selling books from Quebec writers and translators published elsewhere. The Fair will offer fun for young booklovers, with a cozy, book-filled Kids’ Nook both days, and a musical performance for children by Connie Kaldor and Paul Campagne on Saturday at noon. There will be an opening cocktail Saturday evening —it is free and open to all, wine and bites will be served.
The fair is open from 12pm-7pm Saturday, and 12pm-5pm Sunday at Casa d’Italia. The building is accessible directly across from Jean-Talon metro and fully accessible to wheelchairs and strollers. In accordance with public health guidelines, mask wearing for in-person events is optional, though encouraged, with hand sanitizing stations available at all locations.
Discover the full schedule of author signings here!

Schedule
Saturday, December 7th

A Duck in New York City – Musical Performance for Kids of All Ages
Saturday, December 7 2024
12 pm – 1 pm
20th Anniversary Celebration with Connie Kaldor and Paul Campagne, complete with anniversary cake!
Based on the Parents’ Choice Gold Award-winning musical picture book of the same name, a heartwarming children’s story and a dozen happy-go-lucky songs about self-esteem and determination. Follow a little duck from the Prairies who has a big dream: making it to New York City and doing his ducky dance on Broadway!

Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel in Conversation with Dr. Samir Shaheen-Hussain
Saturday, December 7 2024
2 pm – 3 pm
Join Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel, longtime activist and visual artist, to hear about her new book, When the Pine Needles Fall: Indigenous Acts of Resistance. A memoir of a deeply engaged life, with an account of the 1990 Kanehsatake and Kahnawake Siege, where she was a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) spokesperson. In conversation with Samir Shaheen-Hussain, MD, author of Fighting for a Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism against Indigenous Children in Canada, winner of the 2021 Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, the 2021 Concordia University First Book Prize, and le Prix de traduction de la Fondation Cole 2022.

Create Your Own Comic Strip! A workshop with Vasilios Billy Mavreas
Saturday, December 7 2024
2 pm – 3 pm
We’ll explore the basic building blocks to get you started on drawing and writing a (mostly silly!) comic strip featuring fun characters we’ll create together. Close up faces, word balloons, sound effects and more! For kids 5 to 9.

The Violet Hour Book Club Reads Subterrane by Valérie Bah
Saturday, December 7 2024
3 pm – 4:30 pm
Led by founder Christopher DiRaddo, this monthly discussion group for lovers of classic and contemporary works of LGBTQ literature will hold its December meeting on the stage at Casa d’Italia. Author Valérie Bah will make a special appearance via Zoom at 4 pm for the last half hour of the group discussion.

Opening Cocktail
Saturday, December 7 2024
5 pm – 7 pm
A very special edition of the Read Quebec Book Fair’s 5 à 7. Come have a drink at the end of an exciting day of book browsing and literary events. Meet public historian, artist and educator Cassandra Marsillo, author of Dalla valigia alla tavola, an oral history of Montreal immigrants from the Italian region of Molise, complete with 40 recipes – and enjoy Molisan antipasti created from the book’s recipes. This event is also a “Super Schmoozer” bringing together members of the Quebec Writers’ Federation, the Writers’ Union of Canada, Quebec chapter, and the English-language Arts Network. Chat about books, writing, and the delicious food! Everyone is welcome.
Sunday, December 8th

Archives Out Loud: A Panel Discussion on Italian-Canadian Writing in English in Quebec
Sunday, December 8 2024
12 pm – 1 pm
Moderated by Nancy Marrelli, archivist of the Italian-Canadian Community Archives of Quebec, which are housed at the Casa d’Italia, an exchange between: Domenic Cusmano, publisher of Accenti: The Magazine with an Italian Accent; novelist and literary impresario Christopher DiRaddo, and playwright Michaela Di Cesare. Reception in the Archives office in the basement to follow.

How I Got Published: Fiction Edition
Sunday, December 8 2024
1 pm – 2 pm
Looking for tips on getting your own writing into print? Writer/translator Mélissa Bull, editor of the QC Fiction imprint at Baraka Books, will moderate as panelists Rebecca Morris (Other Maps), Sofia Ajram (Coup de Grâce), and Lili Zeng (Dear Haider) recount their journeys to publication. There will be plenty of time for questions from the floor.

Postcards to the Future! A workshop with Vasilios Billy Mavreas
Sunday, December 8 2024
1 pm – 2 pm
Mail a message to your older self. We’ll be designing with words and pictures a double sided postcard with a message you’d like your future self to know. It could be serious or playful or both, you decide what the adult version of you should know! For kids 10 and up.

Comic Book Confessions: Montreal Cartoonists Tell All
Sunday, December 8 2024
2 pm – 3 pm
Montreal has emerged as one of the most vibrant comic book scenes in the world, with a remarkable range of local creators producing weird, wild, and wonderful work that crosses over genres, generations, and languages. Join superstar cartoonists Walter Scott (Wendy), Éloïse Marseille (Naked: The Confessions of a Normal Woman), and Chris Oliveros (Are You Willing to Die for the Cause?) for a candid discussion about creating stories in pictures and words, finding humor in everyday life, and contemplating what could be next for Montreal’s thriving comic arts scene. Moderated by François Vigneault.

Cards for Peace: A workshop with Vasilios Billy Mavreas

Sunday, December 8 2024
2 pm – 3 pm

We’ll create holiday greeting cards with drawings and writing for family and friends around the themes of peace, gratitude and light! Every tradition welcome!

Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize Showcase
Sunday, December 8 2024
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
The Quebec Writers’ Federation’s Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize Showcase will once again display the creative talents of the finalists for the Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize.
Moe Clark “committing a dream / pawâkan Palestine”
Lucia De Luca “Congratulations”
Emilia Malpica-Iruegas “twenty-one”
Roger Sinha “Hater’s n Baiters: The Culture Collision”
Mac van den Hoeven “Memory Justice”
Children’s Programming with Vasilios Billy Mavreas
At any time during the Read Quebec Book Fair, wee people can hang out in our Babar Books Kids’ Nook and look at children’s books, draw and colour, or just relax in a cozy spot meant specially for them. Kids and their big people can also do some creative activity of their own at one of the three fabulous activities led by artist and writer Vasilios Billy Mavreas. For younger kids: Create your own comic strip! For older kids: Postcards to the Future! And for all ages: Cards For Peace.

Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel in Conversation with Dr. Samir Shaheen-Hussain
2024-12-07 14:00 - 15:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
Join Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel, longtime activist and visual artist, to hear about her new book, When the Pine Needles Fall: Indigenous Acts of Resistance. A memoir of a deeply engaged life, with an account of the 1990 Kanehsatake and Kahnawake Siege, where she was a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) spokesperson. . In conversation with Samir Shaheen-Hussain, MD, author of Fighting for a Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical Colonialism against Indigenous Children in Canada, winner of the 2021 Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, the 2021 Concordia University First Book Prize, and le Prix de traduction de la Fondation Cole 2022.

Create your own comic strip!
2024-12-07 14:00 - 15:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
We’ll explore the basic building blocks to get you started on drawing and writing a (mostly silly!) comic strip featuring fun characters we’ll create together. Close up faces, word balloons, sound effects and more! For kids 5 to 9.

Vasilios Billy Mavreas (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist and creativity workshop leader specializing in jumpstarting inspiration through collaborative creative play. The author of four graphic novels and director of gallery boutique Monastiraki (1998 – 2021), he has been involved in the Montreal arts community since the 1980s.

The Violet Hour Book Club Reads Subterrane by Valérie Bah
2024-12-07 15:00 - 16:30 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
Led by founder Christopher DiRaddo, this monthly discussion group for lovers of classic and contemporary works of LGBTQ literature will hold its December meeting on the stage at Casa d’Italia. Author Valérie Bah will make a special appearance via Zoom at 4 pm for the last half hour of the group discussion.

Opening Cocktail
2024-12-07 17:00 - 19:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
A very special edition of the Read Quebec Book Fair’s 5 à 7. Come have a drink at the end of an exciting day of book browsing and literary events. Meet public historian, artist and educator Cassandra Marsillo, author of Dalla valigia alla tavola, an oral history of Montreal immigrants from the Italian region of Molise, complete with 40 recipes – and enjoy Molisan antipasti created from the book’s recipes. This event is also a “Super Schmoozer” bringing together members of the Quebec Writers’ Federation, the Writers’ Union of Canada, Quebec chapter, and the English-language Arts Network. Chat about books, writing, and the delicious food! Everyone is welcome.

Archives Out Loud: A Panel Discussion on Italian-Canadian Writing in English in Quebec
2024-12-08 12:00 - 13:00 | Casa d’Italia, 505 rue Jean Talon est, Montreal, QC, H2R 1T6, Canada
Moderated by Nancy Marrelli, archivist of the Italian-Canadian Community Archives of Quebec, which are housed at the Casa d’Italia, an exchange between: Domenic Cusmano, publisher of Accenti: The Magazine with an Italian Accent; novelist and literary impresario Christopher DiRaddo, and playwright Michaela Di Cesare. Reception in the Archives office in the basement to follow.
