The french-language magazine relaunched on April 25
By Frédéric T. Muckle and Sara Baron-Goodman, Online Exclusive to The Concordian
Tackling your final few exams and term papers is a hard, stressful time for all students. But for the editorial staff at Concordia’s new french magazine L’Organe, who tackled finals, papers, and launching a magazine, the light at the end of the tunnel was that much more sweet for the work they did.
L’Organe, Concordia’s one lost but never forgotten francophone magazine, launched its renewed publication at La Quincaillerie bar on Thursday, April 23 to a group of 50 or so supporters and friends.
The francophone magazine was created in 2006 when it replaced the Concordia Français but stopped publishing in 2011 when most of its team graduated or left, leaving the boat without its crew. After a few years of inactivity, administration and bureaucratic difficulties and a few failed attempts to relaunch, a team of Concordia students finally brought L’Organe back to life.
Charlotte Parent, the newly elected editor-in-chief of L’Organe, talked to The Concordian about what we can look forward to with this new addition to Concordia’s publication roster.
An “inclusive” magazine
While the “fact that it’s francophone holds an important place” in the publication’s mission, Parent said L’Organe is also about giving a voice to the omnipresent francophone population at Concordia. These students may have the will to write but might prefer to express themselves in their mother tongue, especially if writing for a published magazine. Anglophones will additionally have a place where they can write and be published in French. Parent said that in the end, the editorial team will be there to help anyone who would like to write for their publication that she described as essentially “inclusive.”
Still, publishing articles in French isn’t the magazine’s sole purpose. She explained that L’Organe also exists to be a place where different articles—on subjects not usually covered in the media—can be published.
“We want to have it open to all subjects and to all writing styles,” said Parent. “We make sure it evolves mainly depending on what submissions we receive and according to what the members of team would like to write about.”
She mentioned, for example, that they received a good amount of creative writing pieces for their first issue.
It’s also a chance for everyone at Concordia to learn more about French news, cultural events and other subjects not necessarily covered by English publications.
Concordia is bilingual in its very nature; even if most classes takes place in English, you can often hear conversations taking place in both Molière and Shakespeare’s languages with a twist of Leclerc’s prose, thus creating a wonderfully hard discussion to follow for people not accustomed to this kind of polyglot back and forth. One could say that within this university microcosm the plurality of Montreal itself is demonstrated.
This is the reason why L’Organe can be considered a natural and necessary addition to Concordia’s literary landscape.
Parent said they were currently aiming to publish at least two, maybe three (depending on the support they get from the community and writers), issues for the upcoming Fall semester. The team also plans to choose the theme for the next issue in May to let people think about what they could write about during the summer. The first issue was distributed April 24.
The Launch
The editorial team and some close friends gathered at La Quincaillerie Thursday night in an intimate celebration of the launch. Between handfuls of Kernel’s popcorn and beer, they discussed the the optimistic future of the magazine.
Curious bar patrons and invited guests milled about the table in the corner of the bar, flipping through copies of the magazine.
This year’s theme was “Bleu”, an evocative colour that not only matched the stormy weather outside that night, but also conjures up melancholy—all the works in this year’s issue pertain in some way to that central concept.
For more information on L’Organe and to learn how to participate to the next issue, visit lorgane.ca.
