The impact of COVID-19 on Combat national des livres 2020 and Canada Reads 2020

This year’s Combat national des livres aired May 4–8, 2020 and was moderated by Marie-Louise Arsenault, the host of Radio-Canada’s Plus on est de fous, plus on lit! Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the contenders defended their books remotely over the phone; however, the show was not postponed like Canada Reads 2020.

In Facebook posts on April 20 and May 8, 2020, users discussed the difficulties they experienced accessing the books and the impact of COVID-19 on the 2020 program. 

On April 20, User Véronic Fortin wrote: “Several books are not available. I would have had time to read them this year!! Boo!”. User Isabel Gingras replied to Véronic’s comment, asking: “Even in audio or digital format? I prefer printed books, but I find the 2 week deadline pretty short this year. I wonder if they were facing any constraints.”

In the same discussion, user Tan Shan Li commented that they were able to access four of the five books through the public library, but only as digital versions. 

They wrote “I managed to borrow 4 of the 5 books in digital format from the Bibliothèques de Montréal. I’m done two! I prefer paper, but with delivery times… it was impossible to get the books on time.” 

These comments point to the difficulties of having access to bookstores and libraries, and the problems with getting books delivered on time during the global pandemic. They may also reflect broader difficulties with accessing the Combat national des livres when they are in high demand because of their appearance on the show. 

Similarly, on May 8, Facebook user Jocelyn Lebeau posted a lengthy comment highlighting challenges faced during the 2020 program. 

Jocelyn wrote: 

“Achieving a National Book Battle’′ on the radio—with 5 fighters from across the country who debated together for a week in addition to participating in a variety show of varieties for the final—is an ambitious project at its core. Doing so in the current context, remotely, with technical constraints, and in record time, requires great openness, ingenuity, and a big investment from the heart. So I want to thank the small but mighty team who supported me and made this project possible on ICI Première: Marie-Louise Arsenault, Elsa Pépin, Sophie Cazenave, Steeve Cote, Michèle Bélisle, Ariane Thibault-Vanasse, Patrick Knup, Sebastien Heppell, Dominique Rhéaume, and Hélène Mercier. Special thanks to the writers, to the publishers, to the guests and to those who defended the books for their generosity. Thank you to those at Radio-Canada’s who choose to highlight art and culture and, of course, a huge congratulations to FRANCE D’AMOUR who won this 2020 edition with a brilliant defense of “Un bond familial” by Nadine Bismuth (Boreal). I encourage you to read it (as well as the 4 other excellent books in the competition!). Long live French-Canadian literature, and happy reading”.

Although comments from listeners seem to indicate that they had some difficulty accessing the books because of the pandemic, and those who were able to get their hands on the books may have had to settle for digital versions when they would have preferred print copies, the show was still able to quickly transitioned to accommodate the change in circumstances and it appeared to be a success.

Comparison to Canada Reads 2020

Canada Reads 2020 was postponed due to COVID-19, which prompted mixed responses from Canadians.  The responses to this delay ranged from dissatisfaction (covered in a previous blog post) to being glad for the extra time to read.  

Like with Combat national des livres 2020, some Canada Reads 2020 fans on Twitter noted challenges to accessing the Canada Reads books during the lockdown. 

For example, @chris_koserski wrote that although there was more time to read the contenders, the Toronto libraries were closed. User @mactammonty noted they were still open online, but @chris_koserski seems to prefer visiting the library in person—perhaps, like Tan Shan Li, who read digital copies from Bibliothèques de Montréal. 

Similarly, user @GeoffreyMBCrowe tweeted that self check out at the Hazelden branch of the Ottawa Public Library was down because of the volume of people checking out books. 

Several users also spoke about where they were planning to purchase books. User @MissBBD spoke about “panic buying” the books at an independent bookstore in Kingston, Ontario.

User @GAFGRM suggested Canadian authors should tweet summaries of their books to tide their readers over while independent booksellers were shipping the books and readers were anxiously waiting for orders to arrive.

The use of the hashtag #ShopLocal is a call for others to support local or independent stores—a campaign that got a lot of attention in the early stages of the pandemic when physical stores, such as bookstores, were often shut or had restrictions on the number of patrons allowed inside at any one time. 

Overall, comparing Canadians’ comments on how COVID-19 affected Combat national des livres and Canada Reads 2020 shows the challenges the audiences faced trying to access the books in each competition. Lack of access to the books—often more specifically a lack of access to the books in print form—was the primary complaint for the audience of Combat national des livres 2020. For Canada Reads 2020, the postponement of the show gave readers additional time to acquire and read the books, and in response to the pandemic, some users chose to order from and support independent bookstores.