We are very pleased to present the second edition of our annual selection « Do you read le belge ? ». The 45 titles – 10 novels, 10 comics, 10 albums & novels for youth, 10 essays and 5 poetry books – published in 2022 and chosen by experts, remain unchanged in their DNA: to offer you a representative sample of the diversity of contemporary creation in French-speaking Belgium at a given moment. Nevertheless, it has been enhanced with new features to enable you to go easily from one book to another, from one genre to another. In addition to the table of contents, you will find now key words in the form of hashtags to quickly identify the themes that each book deals with. This selection is also available in Spanish : don’t hesitate to write us in ordre to receive it.
This selection is nothing more and nothing less than an invitation to enter French-speaking Belgian books.
Don’t be surprised to see French publishing houses: this is also a reflection of the dynamics that make up our landscape. Our proximity to France creates a porosity in terms of both creation and publishing. Similarly, we consider a Belgian author to be anyone who has been writing in French on French-speaking Belgian territory for at least five years. Like Brussels, a highly cosmopolitan city that brings together more than 180 nationalities, French-speaking Belgium is a fertile ground for exchanges, literary creation, fields of thought, a fertile ground for welcoming hybrid personal and artistic journeys, of which we are trying to offer you an image here.
Let yourself be guided through these pages, let immerse yourself in these books: you will be able to get a better taste of this living creation, inextinguishable and ready to go beyond its borders to better reach you.
This selection was made possible thanks to experts for each genre. We warmly thank them for their contribution:
Prose: Ariane Herman, Bookseller and Founder of the bookshop Tulitu, Brussels & Jean-Claude Vantroyen, Head of the book supplement of the daily newspaper Le Soir
Comics: Erwin Dejasse, art Historian, Professor and Curator specialising in comics & Clément Fourrey, Comics Artistic Director for the Brussels Book Fair
Poetry: Charlyne Audin, Teacher and President of the bookshop le Comptoir du livre, Liège & Christophe Meurée, First Assistant at the Archives and Museum of Literature in Brussels
Youth Literature: Thalie Natkiel, Children’s bookseller at Tropismes, Brussels & Carole Saturno, Artistic Director of Picture! Festival
Non-Fiction: Catherine Mangez, Bookseller and Co-manager at the bookshop Papyrus, Namur & Olivier Verschueren, Bookseller and Manager at the bookshop Livre aux Trésors, Liège
This project was coordinated by Altura Consultance, designed by Mona Habibbizadeh and translated by Impact Traduction. You can download it here.
