Abroad
Books with an international market
A number of other writers, including many young authors, have made a name for themselves in Québec and abroad, especially within the French-speaking world. Some examples include :
- Yann Martel, whose Life of Pi (L’histoire de Pi) has sold millions of copies and won the prestigious Booker prize.
- Gil Courtemanche, whose Un dimanche au bord de la piscine à Kigali has been sold in 23 countries.
- Nicolas Dickner, whose novels Nikolski and Tarmac have been translated and sold in a dozen different countries.
- Perrine Leblanc, whose first novel, Sortir de soi, was published in Gallimard’s prestigious Blanche collection.
- Pierre Szalowski, whose novel Le froid modifie la trajectoire des poissons has sold several thousands of copies in Germany.
- Kim Thuy, whose first book, Ru, was very successful in France.
- Dominique Fortier, whose On the Proper Use of Stars (Du bon usage des étoiles) was published in France and English Canada.
- Nelly Arcan, who is no longer with us, wrote novels that had a huge impact on the entire French-speaking world.
- Anne Robillard, whose Chevaliers d’émeraude series has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Québec and France.
Aside from novels and fiction, Québec books have also found international audiences in the academic and medical worlds (with the publications of CHU Sainte-Justine), and in poetry, where publishers like Éditions des Forges have gained a foothold in the Latin American market.
Québec publishers also regularly attend the major book fairs in Blois, Guadalajara, Frankfurt, Paris, Bologna, Brussels, Geneva and London and the children’s book fair in Bologna.
Exploration missions conducted under the patronage of the Association nationale des éditeurs de livres also make it possible for delegations of authors and publishers to meet their counterparts in other countries. In the last few years, these missions have traveled to China, Argentina, Brazil and the United States, among other countries. Québec is also visited by foreign publishers and has hosted Mexican, British, Dutch and Argentine delegations in Montreal, Quebec City and other cities.
Multiple voices
Many immigrant authors or authors from various cultural communities have helped expand Québec's field of literature and show its diversity both here and abroad. Some of the most notable figures include:
- Neil Bissoondath
- Aki Shimazaki
- Sergio Kokis
- Hans-Jürgen Greif
- Abla Farhoud
- Kim Thuy
- Rawi Hage
- Naïm Kattan
- Madeleine Thien
The contributions of these authors to Québec literature are often in French, but also in English.
