What is the Congrès Boréal about?

Boréal is the name of a science fiction and fantasy convention. It was created in 1979 by French-speaking fans and writers in the province of Québec, Canada. Though it has moved around (it also has been held in Chicoutimi/Saguenay, Ottawa, Quebec City, and Longueuil), it is now based in Montréal.

As it is the only purely francophone convention in Canada, it naturally devotes part of its efforts to exploring science fiction and fantasy produced in French in Canada, and making them better known. The long-time involvement of writers has also meant that the convention's programming tends to concentrate on literary science fiction and fantasy.

However, there has never been an exclusive focus on written science fiction and fantasy in French. The general themes of science fiction, fantasy, and horror are very much present in our discussions. Movies, graphic novels, and art are also part of what we look at and have fun with. Our guests have never come exclusively from Québec or Canada. Over the years, we've hosted Gérard Klein, William Gibson, Samuel Delany, Kim Stanley Robinson, Valerio Evangelisti, Guy Gavriel Kay, Robert J. Sawyer, and many more.

In recent years, we have introduced some programming in English. Circumstances permitting, we intend to continue. There should usually be one or two panels in English, and perhaps one talk or lecture . If you live in Montréal and wish to attend, we suggest you keep track of our website as we get closer to the convention dates and that you check out the page detailing our programming. If we can, we may place a direct link on this page to any relevant English-language programming.