It was the author Marie-Hélène Larochelle who won the first Janette-Bertrand Literary Prize in the history of the Montreal Book Fair, Wednesday evening, at the Palais des congrès. The jury chose the author of the punchy novel Toronto never blue (Leméac) among the five female finalists.
“To denounce injustices against women is to open up solutions that will ultimately change the world. Thank you, Marie-Hélène Larochelle, for the writing, the short sentences, the moving intrigues and the taste for turning the pages,” declared the great Janette Bertrand.
This novel by Quebec-born author Marie-Hélène Larochelle was selected among the finalist works: File a complaintby Léa Clermont-Dion (August Horse), It could have been a movieby Martine Delvaux (Heliotrope), The unsightlyby Claudia Larochelle (Quebec America) and Self-portrait of anotherby Élise Turcotte (Viola).
photo provided by the Montreal Book Fair
The words of Pauline Marois
The president of the jury and former Prime Minister of Quebec, Pauline Marois, spoke of “a powerful novel recounting the journeys of itinerant women and prostitutes in a city indifferent to their fate, which we seek to hide from view by relegating them to the corners of alleys, squats, makeshift shelters immediately dismantled, is a real cry to be heard by everyone, in a writing that has the strength to never judge, while the country is bogged down in an unprecedented housing crisis.
Madame Marois also described Janette Bertand as “a visionary who contributed to lifting taboos and making Quebec a freer and fairer society for women.”
Toronto never blue deals with the harsh realities of street life in Toronto and related themes such as prostitution, drugs, pornography and misbehavior
police officers by following the daily lives of a young itinerant named Hannah, of Carol, who gives birth in an alley, and of four prostitutes.
The Janette-Bertrand Prize was created to honor literary works exploring social issues such as gender equality, women’s autonomy, and the fight against gender violence, by authors from the Canadian Francophonie and the Quebec whose contributions mark our time.
2:15 p.m.: major interview with Marie Laberge hosted by Billy Robinson
5:45 p.m.: major interview with Guy Gavriel Kay hosted by Mathieu Lauzon-Dicso
– The Montreal Book Fair continues until Sunday at the Palais des congrès de Montréal
