Boréal announced on 21 October 2026 that it is ending its collaboration with Thélyson Orélien.
Boréal says new elements confirmed in the days before the announcement show AI was used in writing C'était ça ou mourir, despite the author's repeated denials.
The house will not reprint the novel and will not publish any further books by Orélien.
On 14 October the publisher said it would keep the novel in bookshops and had no evidence establishing AI use with certainty.
Boréal, a Montreal-based publisher, announced on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, that it is ending its collaboration with Canadian-Haitian writer Thélyson Orélien. The house now says artificial intelligence was used in writing his novel C'était ça ou mourir, which contradicts the author's repeated assurances that he never relied on it. The publisher had defended him publicly only a week earlier, when it kept the book in bookshops. The decision therefore reverses a position the house had taken in public.
The publisher's communiqué says the new evidence was confirmed in the days before the announcement. According to the house, Orélien had assured it several times that he never used AI to create the novel. Boréal will not reprint C'était ça ou mourir and will not publish any further books by the author. The statement puts its central finding in these words:
“New elements, confirmed over the past few days, indicate that artificial intelligence was used in the writing process of C'était ça ou mourir.”
On 14 October, Boréal said it would keep the novel on bookshop shelves. It added that it had no evidence establishing with certainty that AI had been used in writing the book. In that statement the publisher set out what it expected from its authors:
“The publisher does not have to demand proof from authors but must stand by them, and that is what we are doing.”
The two communiqués came a week apart, and the later one withdraws the stance taken in the earlier one.
The decision covers two things: the novel already in print and any future work by Orélien. VRT NWS describes Orélien as a Canadian-Haitian writer, and the novel carries the French title C'était ça ou mourir. Boréal is a Canadian house based in Montreal, which Le Temps calls a Québécois publisher.
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Canadian publisher Boréal says artificial intelligence was used to write Thélyson Orélien's novel C'était ça ou mourir, contrary to his repeated assurances. The house will not reprint the book or publish his future titles.
AI text based on reports by 20minutes, vrtnws.be, Le Monde.fr and other publishers. Published .