Eleven years later, “I buy a Quebec book” day has once again broken all records. In 2024, sales of local fiction increased 11 times compared to previous days. This year, the rush was for Quebec literature, whose sales were 17 times higher than usual. Sales of comics increased sevenfold and sales of children’s books increased sixfold.
82% of all fiction books sold in independent bookstores were published by Quebec publishers. In total, 6,354 fiction titles were sold at least once by Quebec publishers, and 9,479 titles were from Quebec, all genres combined.
Among these books, according to the report by the Banque de titres de langue française (BTLF), which covers around 60 percent of the market but does not include the Renaud-Bray and Archambault bookstores, almost 20 percent were new releases and 80 percent were reorders, i.e. books from previous years.
However, the BTLF has Duty that sales on Mondays before August 12th were lower this year. Therefore, with the current calculations that compare the gap that August 12th causes with previous Mondays, it is difficult to compare the different August 12th days with each other.
A day of awards
At the top of the literature charts: asbestos (La Peuplade) by Sébastien Dulude, whose distribution in Quebec was accelerated by a few days to take advantage of the mild effects of August 12.
Men’s suit The Ink Boy (Hurtubise), by Marie-Christine Chartier. On the third step of the podium we find for the second year in a row What I know about you (alto), Eric Chacour.
The Robert Cliche Prize, awarded at the beginning of August, is also one of the recurring winners of August 12. This year Escalei Street (VLB) by Laura Nicolae, benefits from it. May our joy remain (Heliotrope) by Kevin Lambert, winner of the Prix Goncourt 2023, takes fifth place.
Duplessis Street(Lux) by Jean-Philippe Pleau takes first place in the “Other” category. Continue The provocation society (Lux) by Dahlia Namian and the autobiography of Yves P. Pelletier, Can you follow me?
The impact of August 12 is particularly felt in bookstores in the Greater Quebec area, which recorded a 1,352% increase in their sales of Quebec books compared to previous Mondays. In Montreal, this increase is 1,038% and in other regions of the province, 806%.
Make August 12th special
Each time August 12th returns, certain authors shine, sometimes the same ones from year to year. “There is an inevitable hierarchy of titles and names of authors who recur more frequently,” analyzes literary sociologist Michel Lacroix, “which runs counter to the desire for horizontality, for ‘literary camaraderie’, for attention to more discreet works, which is very strong in the Quebec literary milieu… although it is perhaps one of the least hierarchical in the world.”
This year, for the first time, various players in the book industry have expressed reservations, criticism or called for a different way of thinking about August 12th.
For example, author Nicholas Dawson has distanced himself from all reading lists that appear on social media. The day, says Dawson, “feels like a popularity contest and (…) can quickly provoke negative feelings (feelings of fraud, injustice, invisibility, not reading, not being Coollack of money or time, etc.) for the authors.
Other authors, such as Pascale Cormier, criticize the purchase imperative, noting that some people have limited means and that this day could also include borrowing books from the library, buying used books or… stealing a book from Quebec, as the erotomaniac anarchist Anne Archet suggests.
Others suggested buying a book by a Quebec author who addresses racism or turning to less popular genres such as poetry or theater.
For Michel Lacroix, it is normal for authors to ultimately react “to the concentration of the gaze on a single day, to the phenomenon of lists and the staging of their own participation in the day”.
“When you read and buy Quebec books all year long – especially when it is at the heart of your work (as an author, critic, teacher) – it becomes almost absurd to isolate books bought on August 12 for an Instagram or Facebook post, or even to hold them back in the days or weeks before, to save something to buy and display (that day).”
Mr. Lacroix, also author of Cecile and Marx (Varia) For readers, the event triggers a “guignolée” effect, a “collective support for a ’cause’ that has a direct consequence: everyone comes together, readers interested in Quebec books, authors, enthusiastic booksellers, around local books, which leads to discussions” and repositions the bookstore as a place of exchange and conversation.
“It is a success for booksellers and the literary scene in Quebec. There has been a very clear change that has generated enthusiasm and the purchase of many more Quebec books in a ‘dead’ season, with more diversity in both titles and authors. This allows Quebec literature to stand out, while the rest of the year sees Quebec, French and ‘international’ releases mixed together, with the focus on certain flagship titles rather than the body of work.”
In his opinion, August 12 was “without a doubt one of the rare cases of a ‘defense of Quebec literature and culture’, which testifies to a popular movement and has neither been politicized nor instrumentalized over time.”
