Margaret Atwood is finally at the Salon international du livre de Québec

After a pandemic-thwarted first attempt in 2020, world-renowned Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood will finally be headlining Auteur.e Studio’s literary meetings at the Salon international du livre de Québec (SILQ).

In addition to the author of the great success The scarlet maidAuteur.e Studio will welcome in its new home at the Théâtre Capitole, from 12 to 16 April, the French writer Marc Levy, the Belgian Amelie Nothombe, the capers Janet Bertrand and Patrick Senical as well as the French-Canadian Nancy Huston.

By lining up the stars on the poster of this new segment of SILQ, General Manager Daniel Glenas is counting, as he was when he was in charge of the summer festival, on the power of attracting big names to attract reflexes in the event and the city.

“It’s going to help the fair sell more tickets, and it’s going to help up-and-coming Quebec authors who come to the fair. The more people who come, the more they get access to books and authors. They connect with the ships. At FEQ, it was a bit like that. The star made it possible to bring in More money to put more comfort on stage. »

Paid word of mouth

According to Mr. Gelinas as well as SILQ’s Director of Communications and Programming, Johan Mongo, convincing these well-known authors to detour to Quebec City wasn’t too difficult.

And according to Ms. Mongo, word of mouth was an added advantage. “These people talk to each other. 10 or 15 years ago we might have had more difficulty convincing them because people didn’t know us. In all humility, people now know about SILQ and it’s considered one of the best.” [salons du livre]. »

“Some people will be surprised to see our launch. It happened last year. We wish these authors would tell other authors about it,” adds Daniel Glynas.

“literary show”

Described as a “literary spectacle” by Quebec Mayor Bruno Marchand during Tuesday’s SILQ press conference, Auteur.e Studio will finally publish all its wings in 2023, after being canceled in 2020 and 2021, and then presented with only Quebec authors last year.

what does it look like Daniel Gélinas describes a performance in front of an audience, directed by Raphaël Posadas, with screens and music. An up-and-coming author from the Quebec City area will open for today’s star (see box for schedule).

All meetings will be hosted by author Claudia La Rochelle, except for the one involving Margaret Atwood. His questioning, as planned in 2020, has been delegated to Marie Laberge.

meetings

• April 12, 7 p.m.: Marc Levy
• April 13, 7 p.m.: Amelie Nothomb
• April 14, 7 p.m.: Janet Bertrand
• April 15th – 3pm: Patrick Sénécal
• April 15, 7 p.m.: Nancy Heston
• April 16, 2 p.m.: Margaret Atwood

Tickets to Auteur.e Studio and SILQ meetings are now on sale. The rest of the show’s program will be revealed in March.