Q&A with Montrealer Gabriella François: A spotlight on literary diversity

Mackenzie Sanche - Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Photo from Gabriella's website

After a four-year-long reading slump, 23-year-old Gabriella François rekindled her love of books by creating Gaby’s Pages in March 2021. She uses YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and her brand new website to become a content creator in the growing online bookish community. This way, she can share her diverse literary discoveries with the world.

Answers have been lightly edited and condensed.

How did the idea of creating Gaby’s Pages come to you?

Well, weirdly enough, since I was in high school, I was thinking that I want to do a YouTube channel. People would tell me I have the personality for it, but I never knew about what. In January, I found out that people actually talk about books on the Internet. So I was like, this is it. I always wanted a YouTube channel, but being on BookTube was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Why is the online book community so meaningful to you?

I haven’t found a single negative person, which is wild on the Internet. In this community specifically, it’s just people hyping each other up. Everybody’s trying to be friends. The amount of people who buy other people books randomly from their Amazon wish list… Where else on the Internet would you find this kind of community where people can just send each other gifts and be there without truly knowing each other?

Speaking of solidarity, why do you think BIPOC, AAPI and LGBTQ+ representation is important in the bookish community?

I never go out of my way very much to get BIPOC, AAPI and LGBTQ+ books. I never realized how much I did until I went on my Goodreads and decided to organize everything. When I think about what I read as a teenager, it raises my hair, because there are so many better books that I could’ve been reading this whole time. I feel like it was sort of formative and made me the non-basic reader that I am today. I think as an adult, since I see all these possibilities, my brain just automatically goes towards people of minorities.

What inspired you to create your website’s “Book Finder” option?

It’s really easy on the Internet to find a list of AAPI authors or LGBTQ+. But I was like, what if I want a fantasy book with an AAPI author, a female main character, that’s over 500 pages but also features a sapphic romance? That’s why I decided to do the “Book Finder.” It’s still a work in progress, but ideally I would get it to carry a lot of books so people could find that really specific book.

What are your hopes for your platform?

I would like to grow. The main goal that I’m achieving on the daily is building my community and then the big goal is making Gaby’s Pages my full-time job. Big aspirations, but I have a set timeline for it. Otherwise, it’s just creating a good community based around my page, which I think I’ve done pretty well. I’ve connected with a lot of people.