Salon du livre de Montréal

What Salon du livre de Montréal does

Salon du livre de Montréal is a non-profit cultural organization (Corporation du Salon du livre de Montréal, founded 1978) operating the largest francophone literary festival in the Americas. Headquartered in Montréal at 1264 rue Sherbrooke Est, the organization is governed by a Corporation of approximately 60 book-industry professionals and a Board of Directors; Mariève Talbot continues as President following the April 2026 Annual General Meeting.

The organization produces a three-volet event platform. Le Salon au Palais is the flagship five-day in-person festival held at the Palais des congrès de Montréal (48th edition: November 19–23, 2025; 49th edition planned November 25–29, 2026 under the theme "OSER"). Le Salon dans la ville extends programming into partner bookstores, cafés, and museums across Greater Montreal from mid-November. Le Salon en ligne delivers year-round digital content. Supporting assets include the Mon Salon mobile app for attendee personalization, the TicketPro online ticketing platform, and dedicated programming brands — Matinées scolaires, Salon dans ta classe, SLM PÉDAGO, SLM PRO, Créateur·rice·s de demain, Lis-moi MTL, and Le Salon dans tes oreilles — alongside two annual awards, the Prix Fleury-Mesplet (industry recognition) and the Prix littéraire Janette-Bertrand (gender-equality literary prize with a $5,000 bursary).

The 2025 edition drew 106,000 visitors to the Palais and over 126,000 participants across all vollets, with nearly 2,000 authors, nearly 700 publishing houses, and over 450 activities. The 49th edition targets more than 25,000 students through school programming. Monetization combines tiered ticketing (Passeport multi-day pass, daily admission, free Wednesday launch day, $7.25 Thursday evening, Après l'école free adult entry), exhibitor booth fees from ~700 publishers, and concentrated sponsorship from Radio-Canada (presenting sponsor), Hydro-Québec, La Presse, Ville de Montréal, the Governments of Quebec and Canada, and arts councils. Operations are run by an 18-person permanent team supported by more than 400 volunteers coordinating over 1,000 shifts across reception, accreditation, school programming, and Salon dans la ville activities.

Name

Salon du livre de Montréal

Legal name

Corporation du Salon du livre de Montréal

Website

https://salondulivredemontreal.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1978

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Salon du livre de Montréal is a non-profit organization operating the largest francophone literary festival in the Americas, hosting 106,000+ visitors, ~2,000 authors, and ~700 publishers annually across in-person, city-wide, and year-round digital programming.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Literary Festival / Cultural Events

NAICS

Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (71151)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Author Talks & Book Readings (MPAGACAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Community Theatre & Storytelling Festivals (MPAGAEAI)

Keywords

• Literary festival
• Book fair
• Publishing exhibition
• Cultural event management
• Literary awards

Headquarters

HQ city

Montréal

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Revenue generated from ticket sales including daily admission, evening rates, and the 'Passeport' (unlimited access pass covering all five days at a single-day price). The 2025 edition introduced free Wednesday entry, discounted Thursday evening admission ($7.25), and free entry for an adult accompanying a child after 3pm on Thursday/Friday.
2. Corporate and Government Sponsorship: Major partners include Radio-Canada (presenting sponsor), the Governments of Quebec and Canada, Ville de Montréal, Hydro-Québec, Les Producteurs de Lait du Québec, La Presse, and arts councils (Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts de Montréal). These partners provide financial and in-kind support for the event.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Salon du livre de Montréal organizes and hosts the largest French-language literary event in the Americas, an annual five-day festival bringing together nearly 2,000 authors and approximately 700 publishing houses with over 100,000 visitors at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. Its three interconnected formats (Le Salon au Palais, Le Salon dans la ville across Greater Montreal, and Le Salon en ligne year-round) provide an omni-channel literary experience complemented by youth and educational programming, professional development for educators, and the Prix Fleury-Mesplet and Prix littéraire Janette-Bertrand literary awards.

Product overview

Salon du livre de Montréal is a literary festival organization operating three interconnected event formats: Le Salon au Palais (the flagship in-person gathering at Palais des congrès de Montréal), Le Salon dans la ville (off-site programming across Greater Montreal venues), and Le Salon en ligne (year-round digital content). The organization supports its mission through the Mon Salon mobile application for personalized attendee experiences, award programs including the Prix Fleury-Mesplet and Prix littéraire Janette-Bertrand, and extensive youth and educational initiatives such as Matinées scolaires, Salon dans ta classe, and SLM PÉDAGO. The festival serves as a major annual gathering for the French-language literary community in the Americas.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Prix Fleury-Mesplet: Annual award by the Board of Directors recognizing individuals who have contributed to the progress, innovation, and influence of books and publishing in Quebec.
• Prix littéraire Janette-Bertrand
• SLM PRO
• SLM PÉDAGO
• Salon dans ta classe
• Matinées scolaires
• Créateur·rice·s de demain
• Le Salon dans tes oreilles
• Lis-moi MTL

Quantifiable outcome

• 106,000+ visitors (2025, 5-day Palais edition)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Festival BD Montréal: Montreal-based comics/bande-dessinée festival using a comparable multi-venue format (central venue + city-wide partner venues) and reaching a similar French-language audience.
• Edinburgh International Book Festival: Major international book festival running a multi-venue author-event programme with strong school and family programming; a comparable urban literary festival at a larger international scale.
• Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA): Canada's largest English-language literary festival featuring author readings, panels and book events; a direct functional peer operating a similar festival model in the same country.
• Salon du livre de Québec: Quebec City book fair aggregating publishers, authors and readers in a comparable three- to five-day event format with strong government sponsorship, serving the same provincial market.
• Brooklyn Book Festival: Free, one-day urban book festival spread across multiple Brooklyn venues with strong publisher and author participation, comparable in its multi-venue city model.
• Metropolis bleu: Montreal-based francophone literary festival with a similar multi-venue author-event model and a shared French-language literary audience in the same city.

Regional players

• Festival America (Vincennes, France): French-language literary festival focused on literatures of the Americas, sharing the Salon's French-language and Americas focus but operating from metropolitan France rather than Quebec.

Broad incumbents

• London Book Fair: Major international book fair oriented around rights, trade and industry deals; a broader incumbent in the same fair-format category with a more B2B and rights-trading focus.
• Hay Festival: Globally recognized multi-city literary festival with comparable brand prestige, author programming, and corporate sponsorship model, but with a much wider geographic and English-language footprint.
• Frankfurter Buchmesse (Frankfurt Book Fair): The world's largest book fair with a substantially broader scope covering international rights trading and global B2B publishing; a broad incumbent whose event format and exhibitor model is the global benchmark.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@Salondulivredemontreal
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/salon-du-livre-de-montr%C3%A9al

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Salon du livre de Montréal