Being both shy about and inept at dancing, on those rare occasions when I shake my booty, I do so in the privacy of my own home. And then, because I can’t help it – the music is what does it, every time.
These days I’ve been dancing to the greatest hits of Fatboy Slim, the British electronic dance music DJ. It may not be cutting edge, but he makes me move. The song that’s been motivating my gyrations these days is “Praise You” — the video’s a hoot.
It’s the perfect anthem for the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s Awards Gala, which is coming up on November 17. “I have to celebrate you, baby/ I have to praise you like I should.” I love that he wants to celebrate and praise. In the world of literary awards, praise tends to be public; celebration, private. At the QWF Awards, though, there is always an air of celebration to go with the praise, and I think that’s as it should be.
It may be because we are a small community and, although well past the linguistic angst of past decades, we are nevertheless conscious of being a minority within Francophone Quebec, an island of English with many connections to the ROC and yet separate from it. Plus, as Canadians, we are one of the little kids, our book industry overshadowed by our larger, more powerful relations to the south and across the pond. Our achievements, then – and they are distinguished – are cause not only for pride but also for celebration of the vibrancy of our literary culture, rich with admixtures from many languages and from all corners of the globe.
The QWF Awards shortlist offers a great snapshot of what our community is creating. A number of the books on the list will be familiar to readers of Rover book reviews; others will ring a bell because they also appear on the shortlists for the Governor General’s Literary Awards. Some of the nominated authors and translators are already much-lauded – among others, the marvellous writer-illustrator of books for children, Marie-Louise Gay; poet, critic, and Maisonneuve magazine editor-in chief Carmine Starnino; and, not surprising in this bilingual province, a quartet of highly accomplished translators, each of whom already has trunkfuls of nominations and awards (Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood, Fred Reed, David Homel, and Lazer Lederhendler). Jon Paul Fiorentino appears as author of the comic novel Stripmalling and also in his guise at the helm of Snare Books, publisher of poetry nominee Mike Spry’s book Jack.
As Rover literary editor, as QWF president, as a writer, but most of all as a reader who reads for pleasure and the thrill of discovery, I hope you’ll take a gander at some of these books. Come celebrate with us at the QWF Awards Gala, which is open to the public and always a good time. And check in with the new Rover book slot – Sundays and Mondays – for reviews of some of these and other great books.
Buy tickets to the QWF Awards Gala, hosted by author, broadcaster, and UNEQ chair Stanley Péan at the Lion d’Or on Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Read previously published reviews of shortlisted titles Fall, Idiocy, Stripmalling, The Pangborn Defense, This Way Out, Ruins and Relics, The Mountain Clinic, and What World is Left in the Rover archive.
Elise Moser is the literary editor of the Rover. Her first novel, Because I Have Loved and Hidden It, will be launched at Café Romolo, 272 Bernard W., on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 6-8 p.m.
