To many — if not most – people, French-Canadian literature is based in the province of Québec. It resides in Montréal, most likely in the Plateau or HoMa. To many, French-Canadian literature bears the face of Michel Tremblay, Dany Laferrière, Monique Proulx or Nicole Brossard. But French-Canadian literature, like the French-Canadian diaspora, has its roots all over the country. From Vancouver to St. John’s, Canadians other than Québécois write in French, and for the last ten years the CBC has been honouring them.
Founded in 2000 by Sudbury’s local Première chaîne de Radio-Canada, Le Prix des lecteurs Radio-Canada was originally a literary prize for Northern Ontario’s Francophone literature. Becoming a provincial prize two years later, Le Prix des lecteurs Radio-Canada went Canada-wide in 2007.
Presided over by Arlette Cousture — officer of the Order of Canada and author of Les filles de Caleb and Ces enfants d’ailleurs, two highly popular book series — the tenth edition of the prize was launched on March 27 with the announcement of the five short-listed books. These cover most of Canada in terms of the authors’ residences, the locations of the publishers and the stories’ settings.
The finalists include L’archipel du Dr. Thomas by Françoise Enguehard and La cathédrale sur l’océan by Vittorio Frigerio, both published by Les Éditions Prise de parole, located in Sudbury, Ontario. Maritimers, Enguehard, who lives in St. John’s, and Frigerio, who teaches French literature at Dalhousie University, have set their novels in St-Pierre et Miquelon and in Halifax, respectively. Also short-listed are the novels Chambre 503 by Hélène Harbec, living in Moncton, Un chaos pour une étoile by Michèle Matteau, living in Ottawa, and the short story collection C’était écrit by Eileen Lohka from Calgary. From an architect whose life masterpiece is slipping from his grasp to a daughter who writes down her final moments with her father in his hospital room and a woman rediscovering love and friendship at 53 years of age, these books offer a glimpse into a French Canada so different from the one we are used to.
A wonderful occasion to discover Francophone authors hailing from the four corners of the country, Le Prix des lecteurs Radio-Canada also gives readers the opportunity to have their say. Though the prize is presided over by a well-known French-Canadian author, the jury is composed of everyday readers who are selected after a call for applications. Coming from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick, the current members of the jury will join the president in choosing the winning book, which will be announced on April 22.
While Montrealers are choosing the Blue Met events they’ll want to attend, eight readers from across the country are choosing which French-Canadian book from outside Québec deserves the tenth Prix des lecteurs Radio-Canada. To whet your appetite, excerpts of the short-listed books, along with synopses and each author’s bio, are available on the prize’s website at http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/prixdeslecteurs/index.asp.
Mélanie Grondin is a writer and translator whose work has appeared in carte blanche, Room, Nashwaak Review and other literary magazines. Mélanie is also associate editor at the Montreal Review of Books.
