BLUE METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL LITERARY FESTIVAL
Blue Metropolis Festival is one of the largest multilingual literary festivals in North America.
For over 20 years, over several days in Montreal, it brings together writers from a number of countries, including from Quebec and Canada, offering onstage interviews, roundtable discussions, talks, master classes, and reading and writing workshops, all for the pleasure of readers. Each year, the Festival is structured around several major themes, demonstrating a commitment to social issues and a keen interest for literature in its infinite variety.
2021 FESTIVAL
Our spring 2021 programming will be presented online April 28 to May 2 and, should safety measures permit it, in person in Montreal at Hôtel 10 and various partner locations from April 30 to May 2.
Online unveiling March 31, 2021, 11:00 AM.
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New details following the Quebec government announcement
on the reopening of theatres and show venues
March 22, 2021 –
Blue Metropolis online April 24 to May 2 and outdoors as of May 21, 2021!
The 2021 program of the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival will take place, in the first instance, entirely online from April 24 to May 2, 2021. Exploring “the challenges of our times,” this edition will bring together over 100 invitees, many from abroad, for roughly fifty literary events.
As the possibilities for international travel remain severely restricted and European countries are renewing lockdown measures, the presence in Montreal of the Festival’s invitees from abroad cannot be expected. Moreover, Hôtel 10, the perennial headquarters of the Festival, has considerably reduced the capacity of its conference spaces. Finally, several of the Festival’s headlining events will be presented in the evening, whereas curfew remains in place. This is why, all things considered, the Festival is maintaining course with a primarily virtual format for its spring program, one rich in content all the same.
However, the six literary walking tours produced by Blue Metropolis and to be launched as podcasts as of May 21, 2021, will also be proposed, in a second instance, as a series of outdoor activities in the company of each tour’s producers, authors, artists and/or performers. Keep an eye out for the start dates on our website.
2020 FESTIVAL
OUR IMPACT DESPITE THE CRISIS
The pandemic required the entirety of the Festival’s team to make a sharp and creative turn toward virtual formats. The 2020 edition of the Festival offered a rich array of digital events and content. Here is a brief overview of that dynamic offering.
- 195,760 FESTIVAL PARTICIPANTS, IN PERSON OR ONLINE1
- 4 MAJOR ONLINE SERIES – SOCIAL INNOVATION FORUM, NATURE WRITING, MENTAL HEALTH AND LITERATURE, A LOOK AT GERMAN LITERATURE
- 41 ARTICLES POSTED ON OUR WEB SITE, 15 PERTAINING TO INDIGENOUS AUTHORS OR ISSUES
- 178 CANADIAN AUTHORS FEATURED ONLINE
- 71 CANADIAN PUBLISHERS SHOWCASED
- 6 TD-BLUE METROPOLIS CREATIVITY WORKSHOPS
- A MAJOR CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE READING — 2,107 PASSIONATE READERS MOBILIZED BY OUR SPONTANEOUS BOOK CLUB
- 17 AUTHORS PERFORMING IN 4 LANGUAGES FOR THE COSY STORY HOUR ON FACEBOOK LIVE
- 245 YOUNG PARTICIPANTS IN OUR 5 EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS, 90,000 PEOPLE REACHED THROUGH THE EXHIBITS AND VIDEOS PRODUCED WITHIN THESE PROGRAMS
1Number of active participants: views, shares on social media, likes, comments, page reads, participants of the Story Hour on Facebook Live and rebroadcasts, children in attendance at the TD Blue Metropolis Children’s Festival before cancellation due to COVID-19.
2019-2020 Youth sector Annual Report
Blue Metropolis 2020 Annual Report
Beyond the Mighty Pen : Women Writers / Activists of the America
There is something about you.
A Blue Metropolis educational program
Anne Renaud : If Kindness was a colour : TD Blue Metropolis Children’s Festival
