Salon du livre de Montréal 2025
A literary odyssey through space and time
48th edition
Themed (Re)enchantment
November 19 – 23, 2025
The Montreal Book Fair, presented by Radio-Canada, opened its doors tpday at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. It is a well loved Fair, awaited eagerly both by the children and the grown ups.
This largest French-language literary event in the Americas invites everyone to experience five days of encounters, discoveries, and discussions about books and the people who bring them to life. With more than 2,000 authors and nearly 300 activities, the Montreal Book Fair is a celebration of books in all their forms: a place for exchange, dialogue, and discovery that brings literature from here and elsewhere to life in the heart of the city.
Olivier Gougeon, Executive Director of the Montreal Book Fair, stated:
“Under the theme of (Re)enchantment, the 2025 edition of the Book Fair invites us to rediscover in words a shared impulse: that of thinking, feeling, and imagining together.” More than just an event, the Book Fair is a space for encounters where stories connect, nurture curiosity, and remind us that culture remains a force for unity and transformation. This year, let's re-enchant the world, one book at a time”.
The Book Fair offers many exciting activities that will be of interest to the visitors, among them the following:
Special Moments with Leading Authors of the Book Fair
Once again this year, the Montreal Book Fair invites readers to a series of intimate and inspiring encounters, where words intertwine and resonate around important contemporary issues. In-depth interviews, one-on-one conversations, and collaborative discussions make up a rich and diverse program that showcases key voices at the Book Fair.
In-Depth Interviews
These 45-minute sessions offer the public privileged access to an author who shares insights into their most recent work, guided by a moderator. They explore journeys marked by memory, resilience, and the passing on of knowledge, in an atmosphere that is both intimate and outward-looking. The public will notably be able to attend major interviews with Mélikah Abdelmoumen, Fred Anderson, Chris Bergeron, Corneille, Tristan Demers, Yasmina Khadra, Carole Laure, Camille Laurens and Andrée A. Michaud who will come to share their experience, their perspective and how words shape their lives and their work.
One-on-One / Tête-à-tête
The One-on-One format offers an intimate 30-minute conversation between two authors who discuss their respective worlds. While the exchange is intended as a discussion between two people, it is a collaborative dialogue that extends the themes explored in their writing. Among the duos not to be missed are Janette Bertrand and Rébecca Déraspe, who will discuss the power of language and its transmission; Hélène Dorion and Émilie Perreault, who will reflect on how art acts as a "presence in the world"; Dany Laferrière and Philippe Racine, who will discuss creation as an act of survival and a site of memory; and Carl Bessette and Cécile Petitgand, who will discuss the role of digital technology and artificial intelligence in our lives and imaginations.
Conversations and roundtables
These activities bring together two or three authors for a moderated discussions (45 minutes to 1 hour) on topics that inspire them, revealing how difference and shared understanding can enrich the dialogue. The topics are varied, ranging from caregiving and intergenerational transmission (When Memory Takes Care, with Marianne Marquis-Gravel and Isabelle Rivest) to the exploration of literary genres such as horror (with Alexie Morin, Martine Desjardins, and Patrick Senécal), or reflections on the body in athletic performance (with Jessica Beauplat, Christine Gosselin, and Laurent Turcot). The roundtable with Paul Kawczak and Heather O’Neill will offer a discussion on the power of magical realism as a weapon of (Re)enchantment against war, where fiction and poetry become luminous refuges from the violence of the world. Finally, the conversation Right to choose: stories of the fight for abortion will bring together Catherine Girouard, Marie-Laurence Raby and Michel Viau, around the history and legacy of this essential fight for reproductive rights.
Today, there were hundreds of children at the Book Fair, many school busses that brought them to the Palais des congrès. Their excitement for the books permeated the premises and made it even more meaningful and enjoyable to see their eagerness to examine the books, to buy them, talk to the authors who were present and ask them to sign the book they bought.
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