Editor’s note
EVER SINCE the early 1970s, when Quill & Quire narrowed its editorial mandate to the publishing industry, the focus of the magazine has remained centred on English-language books. While many of the same issues, such as copyright laws and the dominance of digital retail giants, also affect the country’s Frenchlanguage publishers, covering the nuances of that industry is a job much better suited to Quebec-based media outlets. Of course, neither industry, nor its books and authors, exist in isolation. Stories bleed, in part thanks to the increasing number of translations available in both markets. There is much to celebrate, given the high calibre of the country’s translators, including the father-and-son team of David and Jacob Homel, and Lazer Lederhendler, whose work on Catherine Leroux’s novel The Party Wall (Biblioasis) earned him a Governor General’s Literary Award and the only Canadian spot on the shortlist for the American Literary Translator’s Association’s 2017 National Translation Award. I was also recently impressed by Susan Ouriou and Christelle Morellis’s nuanced translation of the House of Anansi Press novel Hunting Houses by Montreal author Fanny Britt, who happens to be a translator herself.
While Q&Q’s focus remains on Englishlanguage publishing in Canada, we decided a look at the French industry was well past due. This month’s spotlight on Quebec publishing grew out of review editor Steven W. Beattie’s observation that some of the most interesting and experimental fiction being produced in this country is coming out of labelle province. He surveys a new generation of French-language publishers and their innovative approaches to the market on page 20, which mirrors much of what Linda Leith has observed on the English side (p. 16). The spotlight also includes a celebration of Montreal’s Librairie Drawn & Quarterly – a beloved bookseller of publishers, regardless of language. Although many people interviewed articulate the numerous challenges faced, overall, the spotlight paints a portrait of a books industry infused with cautious optimism, creativity, and enduring resilience.