Le Combat des livres
| Running time | 30 min. |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Language(s) | French |
| Home station | Ici Radio-Canada Première |
| Hosted by | Marie-France Bazzo Christiane Charette Marie-Louise Arsenault |
| Original release | 2004 – present |
| No. of series | 16 |
Le Combat des livres is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Ici Radio-Canada Première in Canada. A French edition of the Canada Reads competition, the program was launched in 2004. It aired annually from 2004 to 2014,[1] and was then discontinued until being revived in 2018.[2]
Both the English and French programs sometimes, but not always, include one personality more commonly associated with the other language community, who champions a translated work.[3] One advocate, Maureen McTeer, appeared on both programs in the same year, championing the same novel in both its original English and translated French editions. Several other novels have also been chosen for both programs, although their English and French versions were not chosen by the same advocate or in the same year; one novel to date, Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes (French title Aminata) has won both competitions.
In 2021, for the first time in the history of the series the network produced two separate editions, one devoted to adult literature and one devoted to youth literature.
2004[]
Radio-Canada, the French-language service of CBC, aired a French version of Canada Reads, entitled Le combat des livres ("Battle of the Books"), from March 29 to April 2, 2004. It was moderated by Marie-France Bazzo.
2005[]
The 2005 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from March 14 to March 18, 2005. It was moderated by Marie-France Bazzo.
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Réjean Ducharme | L'Avalée des avalés | Sophie Cadieux |
| Nancy Huston | Dolce agonia | |
| Jean-Jacques Pelletier | La Chair disparue | Alain Lefèvre |
| Elizabeth Smart | À la hauteur de Grand Central Station, je me suis assise et j'ai pleuré | |
| Michel Tremblay |
2006[]
The 2006 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from January 30 to February 3. It was moderated by Marie-France Bazzo.
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Francine Noël | La Femme de ma vie | |
| Hubert Aquin | Prochain épisode | Pierre Lebeau |
| Comment devenir un monstre | Lucie Laurier | |
| Un petit pas pour l'homme | Louis-José Houde | |
| Frances Itani | Une coquille de silence | Maureen McTeer |
2007[]
The 2007 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from February 26 to March 2 and was moderated by Christiane Charette.
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Denis Thériault | L'Iguane | |
| Marie Laberge | Le poids des ombres | Pauline Marois |
| Mathyas Lefebure | D'où viens-tu berger? | |
| Yann Martel | Self | Sheila Copps |
| Christian Mistral | Vamp | Biz |
2008[]
The 2008 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from February 25 to February 29 and was once again chaired by Christiane Charette.
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Éric Dupont | La Logeuse | |
| Marie-Claire Blais | Une saison dans la vie d'Emmanuel | |
| Jacques Godbout | La concierge du Panthéon | Bernard Landry |
| Mordecai Richler | Le Monde de Barney | Anne Lagacé Dowson |
| Gabrielle Roy |
2009[]
The 2009 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from March 23 to 27, and was once again chaired by Christiane Charette.
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Rawi Hage | Parfum de poussière | |
| Gérard Bouchard | Mistouk | Raymond Gravel |
| Jean-François Beauchemin | La fabrication de l'aube | |
| D. Y. Béchard | Vandal Love | |
| Marie-Sissi Labrèche | Borderline | Janette Bertrand |
2010[]
The 2010 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from March 22 to 26. Christiane Charette moderated.
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Dany Laferrière | L'énigme du retour | Françoise David |
| Comment devenir un ange | ||
| Patrice Desbiens | L'Homme invisible | Thomas Hellman |
| Germaine Guèvremont | Le survenant | |
| Nancy Huston | Cantique des plaines |
2011[]
The 2011 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from March 14 to 18. Christiane Charette moderated.
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Perrine Leblanc | L'homme blanc | Geneviève Guérard |
| David Gilmour | L'École des films | Anne-France Goldwater |
| Dany Laferrière | Comment faire l'amour avec un nègre sans se fatiguer | Patrick Lagacé |
| Émile Ollivier | Mère-Solitude | |
| Danielle Trussart | Le train pour Samarcande | Djemila Benhabib |
2012[]
Beginning in 2012, the production and broadcast of Le Combat des livres was transferred from Charette's program to the network's new literature show Plus on est de fous, plus on lit!, hosted by Marie-Louise Arsenault.[4]
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Marie-Renée Lavoie | La petite et le vieux | |
| Margaret Atwood | La voleuse d'hommes | Tasha Kheiriddin |
| Guy Delisle | Chroniques de Jérusalem | Gildor Roy |
| Abla Farhoud | Le sourire de la petite juive |
2013[]
The 2013 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from March 18 to 22. Marie-Louise Arsenault moderated. It was an all star season featuring previous winners.[5]
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Lawrence Hill | Aminata | Thomas Hellman |
| Jocelyne Saucier | Il pleuvait des oiseaux | Geneviève Guérard |
| Heather O'Neill | La Ballade de Baby | |
| Samuel Archibald | Arvida | Bernard Landry |
| Éric Dupont | La fiancée américaine |
2014[]
The 2014 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from March 31 to April 3. Marie-Louise Arsenault moderated.
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Marie-Claire Blais | La Belle Bête | Paul Cargnello |
| François Gravel | Adieu, Betty Crocker | Pauline Martin |
| Rohinton Mistry | L'Équilibre du monde | |
| Kim Thúy | Ru |
2018[]
The 2018 edition of Le Combat des livres, the first time the show has aired since 2014, ran from May 7 to 11, 2018.[2] Marie-Louise Arsenault moderated. The books were selected to represent the regions of Canada, with one book representing each of Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, Western Canada and the Indigenous peoples of Canada.[2]
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Katherena Vermette | Ligne brisée | Naomi Fontaine |
| Margaret Atwood | C'est le coeur qui lâche en dernier | Russell Smith |
| Stéfanie Clermont | Le jeu de la musique | |
| Nancy Huston | Le club des miracles relatifs | |
| Sara Tilley | Écorchée | Antonine Maillet |
2019[]
The 2019 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from May 6 to 10, 2019, with Marie-Louise Arsenault moderating. The books were selected on the same theme of regional representation as the 2018 edition, with one book selected to represent each of Canada's four major geographic regions and one book selected to represent indigenous literature.
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Blaise Ndala | Sans capote ni kalachnikov | Marie-Maude Denis |
| France Daigle | Pour sûr | Édith Butler |
| Naomi Fontaine | Manikanetish | Stanley Vollant |
| Karoline Georges | De synthèse | |
| Miriam Toews | Pauvres petits chagrins | Deni Ellis Béchard |
2020[]
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Nadine Bismuth | Un lien familial | France D'Amour |
| Marguerite Andersen | La mauvaise mère | Dominique Demers |
| Gérald Leblanc | Moncton mantra | |
| J. R. Léveillé | Le soleil du lac qui se couche | |
| Richard Wagamese | Cheval Indien | Romeo Saganash |
2021[]
In 2021, Ici Radio-Canada Première planned two separate editions of Le Combat des livres, one devoted to young adult literature, with the five selected books advocated by francophone teenagers, and another for adult literature. The teen competition was staged in March 2021, while the adult competition took place May 3 to 7.[6]
Writer and actress Catherine Trudeau also participated in the youth debates as assistant moderators.[7]
Combat des livres jeunesse[]
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Camille | Amélie | |
| Cœur de slush | Anaïs | |
| Dominique Demers | L'albatros et la mésange | Daphnée |
| Michel Noël | Hush! Hush! | Pierre |
| Andrée Poulin | J'avais tout prévu sauf les bélugas | Élie |
Combat national des livres[]
The adult literature competition was staged from May 3 to 7, 2021.[8]
| Author | Title | Advocate |
|---|---|---|
| Michel Jean | Kukum | Michèle Audette |
| Infini | Brian Gallant | |
| Que serions-nous sans le secours de ce qui n’existe pas? | ||
| Là où je me terre | Michel Marc Bouchard | |
| Melchior Mbonimpa | Le totem des Baranda | Tanya Lapointe |
References[]
- ^ "Radio-Canada revoit sa «stratégie littéraire»". Le Devoir, March 30, 2015.
- ^ a b c "Combat des livres is back!". CBC Books, April 24, 2018.
- ^ Russell Smith, "Why Quebec's literary culture is so much fun". The Globe and Mail, May 26, 2018.
- ^ Chantal Guy, "Combat des livres: victoire de La petite et le vieux de Marie-Renée Lavoie". La Presse, March 29, 2012.
- ^ "Le Combat des livres kicks off with talk of independence and throwing books". The Gazette, March 18, 2013.
- ^ Jenny Lamothe, "Sudbury author Melchior Mbonimpa ‘astonished’ his 20-year-old novel picked for Combat national des livres". Toronto Star, April 15, 2021.
- ^ Geneviève Dufour, "Le roman Camille remporte le Combat des livres jeunesse". Les libraires, March 19, 2021.
- ^ "Michèle Audette remporte le Combat national des livres 2021 avec Kukum". Ici Radio-Canada, May 7, 2021.
- French-language radio programs in Canada
- 2004 radio programme debuts
- Ici Radio-Canada Première