The Future of Quebec Writing
6 May 2011

This weekend sees the long-awaited Forum on Creative Writing in Quebec at Montreal’s Grande Bibliothèque.

Proceedings get under way on Friday May 6th with a welcome at 4 p.m. followed by the offical Opening and a tone-setting panel discussion on issues affecting creative writing today at 5.30 p.m. hosted by Marie-Andrée Lamontagne that features storyteller Jocelyn Bérubé, novelist Neil Bissoondath, poet and novelist Nicole Brossard and poet Jean Sioui. A reception follows at 7 p.m.


Saturday May 7th: 10 a.m. – 12.30 p.m.


Session 1 : The development of creative writing and digitalization, with Daniel Canty, Jean-Yves Fréchette, and Caroline Georges. Host: Nicolas Langelier.
Session 2 : Conditions for living as a creator today, with José Acquelin, Paul Bélanger, Bertrand Gauthier, Hélène Messier, and Monique Proulx. Host: Pierre Lavoie.
Session 3 : The challenges of the creative life, with Carole David, Peter Dubé, and Pauline Vincent. Host: Guy Rodgers.

Saturday May 7th: 13.30 p.m. – 4 p.m.


Session 4 : How to improve the distribution and circulation of creative writing in Quebec and abroad? With Christine Bouchard, Isabelle Gagnon, Linda Leith, and Mélanie Vincelette. Host: Aline Apostolska.
Session 5 : How to improve the distribution and circulation of spoken literature in Quebec and abroad? With D. Kimm, Marc Laberge, Jean-Marc Massie, Joujou Turenne. Host: Jacques Falquet.

Session 6 : The new spaces of literary practice, with Fortner Anderson, Simon Dumas, Christine Germain, and Mathieu Lippé. Host: Stéphane Lépine.

Sunday May 8: 10.30 – 12.30 p.m.

Plenary Session. Host: Marie-Andrée Lamontagne.

All sessions take place at the Grande Bibliothèque, 475, boul. De Maisonneuve Est, Montréal (Québec) H2L 5C4
Métro Berri-UQAM

In French.

For further information on the Forum: call 1 800 897-1707 and ask for Marie-Ève Vézina.

Most sessions are fully booked. If you wish to comment on Forum themes, you are invited to do so by writing to forumlitt @ calq.gouv.qc.ca. CALQ reserves the right to make such comments public.

The Forum is organized by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec with the participation of Quebec’s Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, and the Conseil des arts de Montréal.

Posted on Globe Books In Other Words on May 5, 2010.


Linda Leith

.ll.




More Articles

Living Elsewhere

Kenneth Radu dives into the layers of memory and displacement that is the story of Alina Dumitrescu's childhood in Communist Romania.

Space for a Pen, part III, by Kenneth Radu


John Ruskin attached a tower to his bedroom on his mountainside estate, Brantwood, on the shores of Coniston Water in Cumbria. Unlike Sackville-West’s, his tower room windowed on all sides, almost a capsule, offered a corner in which to escape from recurring nightmares or to watch the stars.


Montreal BookCamp

Questions about the future of bookstores and libraries soon resulted in bold statements to the effect that “Bookstores will die. It’s a pity, but that’s the reality.” Booksellers fared better in this imagined future, but not by much. To the suggestion that booksellers can continue to play a role in providing advice on books, one participant cracked, “you might have difficulty living on that.” Publishers came in for some dismissive comments, as well, and radio and television got it in the neck.