Éditions du Boréal

Les Éditions du Boréal are a Canadian publishing house based in Montreal, publishing general literature in French. Founded in 1963, it has become one of the leading independent houses, respected for the quality of its publications. Many of its authors have received prizes both in Canada and abroad.

The history of Les Éditions du Boréal begins in June 1960, during the Quiet Revolution, when two history professors, Denis Vaugeois and Jacques Lacoursière, were working at the Public Archives of Ottawa. The first issue of the 'journal' Boréal Express, intended for history teaching, appeared in November 1962. After its official birth in 1963, Le Boréal Express ltée gradually moved towards book publishing. In 1968, the '17/60' collection was created, gathering works devoted to history. The first title was L'Idée d'indépendance au Québec by Maurice Séguin. This opened the way to a series of books that renewed Quebec historiography, culminating in 1979 with the publication of Histoire du Québec contemporain by Linteau, Durocher and Robert. Under the impetus of its new director, Antoine Del Busso, the house opened up to the entire field of social sciences. By making room for fiction with two historical titles, Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hémon (1980) and Le Canard de bois by Louis Caron (1981), the house launched itself towards new literary horizons. At the end of the 1980s, the house dropped the qualifier 'express' and became simply Boréal. The pace of publications increased radically, reaching around eighty new titles per year. Pascal Assathiany, who took over the reins, was surrounded by writers and academics: Jacques Godbout, François Ricard, who founded his collection 'Papiers collés', while Paul-André Linteau continued to oversee the field of history.

1. 1Les Éditions du Boréal | Maison d’édition à Montréaleditionsboreal.qc.ca
2. 2Historique des Éditions du Boréal | Maison d’éditioneditionsboreal.qc.ca