Ukraine will take part in the Salon du livre de Montréal for the second time

From November 23 to 27, the largest book event in Quebec will take place — the 45th Montreal Book Fair, where a Ukrainian stand will be presented for the second time. The organizers of the Ukrainian stand, the public organization Club ukrainien de Montréal, informed Chytomo about this.

After Ukraine’s extensive participation at the national level as the guest of honor in 2019, in 2022 the Ukrainian stand will represent the public sector.

The Salon will be held in three formats:

• literary festival at various locations around the city;
• the fair, which will be open both to a wide audience and to the work of agents and rights holders in the “translation fair” area;
• online (started November 11).

The Ukrainian delegation will participate at the exhibition site with publications in Ukrainian, as well as translations in French and English. These are, in particular, “Grey bees” by Andriy Kurkov in French translation, the collection “Hommage à l’Ukraine”, the anthology of Ukrainian poetry “Ukraine. 24 poètes pour un pays”, edited by Ella Yevtushenko, the diary of a 12-year-old Ukrainian girl Eva Skaletska “You don’t know what war is: Diary of a girl from Ukraine”, as well as children’s French-language editions by Agrafka, Oksana Bula and “Travel book Ukraine” by Green Penguin.

“This year, the number of translations into French has increased significantly, and we can present publications not only in English and Ukrainian, but also in French, which is very important here. Therefore, although in 2019 Ukraine was indeed very visible and well represented at the fair, this year we really hope that it will be heard more, read more, and we will become more understandable to the local audience”, the organizers said.

The organizers will direct the funds from the sale of books to help Ukraine.

Books from HURI, Mosaic Press, and other American publishers will be presented among the English-language editions. In particular, there are translations of Serhiy Zhadan, Oksana Zabuzhko, Artem Chekh, Volodymyr Rafeyenko, Stanislav Aseyev, Oksana Kis, Tamara Gorikha-Zernya and others.

Organizers of the stand note: “Of course, there is a huge demand for a book in Ukrainian. But distribution is definitely a weak link, especially when it comes to transatlantic logistics. We had only three weeks to organize the delivery of books, but at our stand you will be able to purchase books from small and large publishers, from A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA and The Old Lion Publishing House to Portal, Discursus and Zalizniy Tato”.

In 2022, the Montreal Book Fair has a special emphasis on live communication, so during the fair there are more meetings with authors, some of which remain unannounced.

Meetings with Canadian writers are known:

• Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette;
• Chrys­tine Brouil­let;
• Dany Lafer­rière;
• Heather O’Neill;
• Michaëlle Jean;
• Patrick Sené­cal;
• Rod­ney Saint-Éloi.

International participants will also come to the fair:

• Bernard Wer­ber;
• David Mitchell;
• Emmanuelle Baya­mack-Tam;
• Maken­zy Orcel;
• Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt;
• Giu­liano da Empoli.

Ukrainian authors are not taking part in the event this time.

It shall be reminded that 40 Ukrainian publishers were present at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and Ukraine was represented by 4 stands, including the national one.

Photos and illustrations: Salon du livre de Montréal