| Show Name: | Le Combat des livres |
| Runtime: | 30 min. |
| Country: | Canada |
| Language: | French |
| Home Station: | Ici Radio-Canada Première |
| Presenter: | Marie-France Bazzo Christiane Charette Marie-Louise Arsenault |
| First Aired: | 2004 |
| Last Aired: | present |
| Num 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. The adult literature debates remain between celebrity personalities, while the youth literature debates take place between francophone teenagers selected through a school competition, with the winner of the debates settled by a judges' panel instead of through voting by the participants.
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.
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gil Courtemanche | Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali | Laure Waridel | |||
| La servante écarlate | Julius Grey | ||||
| Une histoire américaine | Gérald Larose | ||||
| L'histoire de Pi | Louise Forestier | ||||
| La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes | Micheline Lanctôt |
The 2005 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from March 14 to March 18, 2005. It was moderated by Marie-France Bazzo.
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Réjean Ducharme | L'Avalée des avalés | Sophie Cadieux | |||
| Dolce agonia | Réjean Thomas | ||||
| La Chair disparue | Alain Lefèvre | ||||
| À la hauteur de Grand Central Station, je me suis assise et j'ai pleuré | Dennis Trudeau | ||||
| Thérèse et Pierrette à l'école des Saints-Anges | Monique Simard |
The 2006 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from January 30 to February 3. It was moderated by Marie-France Bazzo.
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Francine Noël | La Femme de ma vie | Françoise Guénette | |||
| Prochain épisode | Pierre Lebeau | ||||
| Comment devenir un monstre | Lucie Laurier | ||||
| Un petit pas pour l'homme | Louis-José Houde | ||||
| Une coquille de silence | Maureen McTeer |
The 2007 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from February 26 to March 2 and was moderated by Christiane Charette.
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denis Thériault | L'Iguane | Dominique Lévesque | |||
| Le poids des ombres | Pauline Marois | ||||
| D'où viens-tu berger? | Robert Frosi | ||||
| Self | Sheila Copps | ||||
| Vamp | Biz |
The 2008 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from February 25 to February 29 and was once again chaired by Christiane Charette.
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Éric Dupont | La Logeuse | Nicolas Langelier | |||
| Une saison dans la vie d'Emmanuel | Serge Denoncourt | ||||
| La concierge du Panthéon | Bernard Landry | ||||
| Le Monde de Barney | Anne Lagacé Dowson | ||||
| La Détresse et l'enchantement | Sophie Faucher |
The 2009 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from March 23 to 27, and was once again chaired by Christiane Charette.
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rawi Hage | Parfum de poussière | Brendan Kelly | |||
| Mistouk | Raymond Gravel | ||||
| La fabrication de l'aube | Emmanuel Bilodeau | ||||
| Vandal Love | Esther Bégin | ||||
| Borderline | Janette Bertrand |
The 2010 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from March 22 to 26. Christiane Charette moderated.
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dany Laferrière | L'énigme du retour | Françoise David | |||
| Comment devenir un ange | Marie-Soleil Michon | ||||
| L'Homme invisible | Thomas Hellman | ||||
| Le survenant | Christian Dufour | ||||
| Cantique des plaines | Christopher Hall |
The 2011 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from March 14 to 18. Christiane Charette moderated.
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perrine Leblanc | L'homme blanc | Geneviève Guérard | |||
| L'École des films | Anne-France Goldwater | ||||
| Comment faire l'amour avec un nègre sans se fatiguer | Patrick Lagacé | ||||
| Mère-Solitude | JiCi Lauzon | ||||
| Le train pour Samarcande | Djemila Benhabib |
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]
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marie-Renée Lavoie | La petite et le vieux | Yves Lamontagne | |||
| La voleuse d'hommes | Tasha Kheiriddin | ||||
| Chroniques de Jérusalem | Gildor Roy | ||||
| Le sourire de la petite juive | Nabila Ben Youssef |
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]
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawrence Hill | Aminata | Thomas Hellman | |||
| Il pleuvait des oiseaux | Geneviève Guérard | ||||
| La Ballade de Baby | Brendan Kelly | ||||
| Arvida | Bernard Landry | ||||
| La fiancée américaine | Dominique Levesque |
The 2014 edition of Le Combat des livres aired from March 31 to April 3. Marie-Louise Arsenault moderated.
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marie-Claire Blais | La Belle Bête | Paul Cargnello | |||
| Adieu, Betty Crocker | Pauline Martin | ||||
| L'Équilibre du monde | Azeb Wolde-Giorghis | ||||
| Ru | Jean-François Chicoine |
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]
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Katherena Vermette | Ligne brisée | Naomi Fontaine | |||
| C'est le coeur qui lâche en dernier | Russell Smith | ||||
| Le jeu de la musique | Philippe-Audrey Larrue-St-Jacques | ||||
| Le club des miracles relatifs | Ibrahima Diallo | ||||
| Écorchée | Antonine Maillet |
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.
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blaise Ndala | Sans capote ni kalachnikov | Marie-Maude Denis | |||
| Pour sûr | Édith Butler | ||||
| Manikanetish | Stanley Vollant | ||||
| De synthèse | Manal Drissi | ||||
| Pauvres petits chagrins | Deni Ellis Béchard |
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nadine Bismuth | Un lien familial | France D'Amour | |||
| La mauvaise mère | |||||
| Moncton mantra | Julie Aubé | ||||
| Le soleil du lac qui se couche | Alpha Toshineza | ||||
| Cheval Indien |
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 Simon Boulerice and actress Catherine Trudeau also participated in the youth debates as assistant moderators.[7]
The adult literature competition was staged from May 3 to 7, 2021.[8]
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michel Jean | Kukum | Michèle Audette | |||
| Infini | |||||
| Que serions-nous sans le secours de ce qui n’existe pas? | Corey Loranger | ||||
| Là où je me terre | Michel Marc Bouchard | ||||
| Le totem des Baranda |
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patrick Isabelle | Camille | Amélie | |||
| Cœur de slush | Anaïs | ||||
| L'albatros et la mésange | Daphnée | ||||
| Hush! Hush | Pierre | ||||
| J'avais tout prévu sauf les bélugas | Élie |
The adult literature competition was staged from May 2 to 6, 2022.[9]
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanessa Léger | L’averti : La naissance d’une dynastie | Serge Brideau | |||
| La course de Rose (Rose's Run) | |||||
| Tout est ori | Charlotte Aubin | ||||
| Le vol de l'ange | Blaise Ndala | ||||
| Rayonnements | Jean Grand-Maître |
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edith Kabuya | Victoire-Divine | Léonie | |||
| Ma vie de gâteau sec | Maya | ||||
| Adam | William | ||||
| Comme une chaleur de feu de camp | Mila | ||||
| Infectés | Léon |
The adult literature competition was staged from May 15 to 18, 2023.[10]
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sébastien Bérubé | Rivières-aux-Cartouches | Gabriel Robichaud | |||
| Nous étions le sel de la mer | Gilles Renaud | ||||
| Le Radeau | Patricia Bitu Tshikudi | ||||
| L'Incendiare de Sudbury | Brigitte Noël | ||||
| Drew Hayden Taylor (tr. Eva Lavergne) | Le baiser de Nanabush (Motorcycles & Sweetgrass) | Xavier Watson |
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrée Poulin | La plus grosse poutine du monde | Nico | |||
| Rentrer son ventre et sourire | Evie | ||||
| Chasseurs de légendes tome 1 : la colère de la Dame blanche | Ella | ||||
| C'est la faute à Ovechkin | Alexis | ||||
| L’ogre et l’enfant | Adam |
The 2024 edition was staged from May 17 to 20.[11]
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emmanuelle Pierrot | La version qui n’intéresse personne | David Thibodeau | |||
| Tomson Highway (tr. Robert Dickson) | Le baiser de la Reine blanche (Kiss of the Fur Queen) | Jocelyn Sioui | |||
| Le prince africain, le traducteur et le nazi | Alison Vicrobeck | ||||
| Mélasse de fantaisie | Chantal Lamarre | ||||
| Les Foley | Diane Losier |
| width=33% | Author | width=34% | Title | width=34% | Advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isabelle Picard | Nish, tome 1 : le Nord et le Sud | Adriene | |||
| Délivrée | Rose | ||||
| Le Cri | Gabrielle | ||||
| Le royaume de Pierre d’Angle T. 1 : l’art du naufrage | Matys | ||||
| Les orphelins du roi : intégrale 1 | Simon |