India Desjardins on mission to raise awareness of writer Laure Conan

Author and screenwriter India Desjardins is currently working on the script for a film which will focus on the story of novelist Laure Conan.

Reached by telephone when she has just received funding from the SODEC for writing the screenplay, India Desjardins does not hide her enthusiasm. She published her first novel at a time when women had no rights! she recalls.

Laure Conan, born Félicité Angers, was born in La Malbaie on January 9, 1845 and died on June 6, 1924 at the Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec. His first novel, Angeline de Montbrunwas published in 1884 and became a classic of Quebec literature. The year 2024 marked the 100th^e anniversary of his death.

We don’t know her in the same way as Gabrielle Roy or Anne Hébert. One of my missions in this is that I would like it to be known.

It’s the producer Guillaume L’Espérance, with whom she worked on the film December 23who supports him in this project. A project that is close to her heart and in which she invested a lot of time with research that took her to Quebec and Charlevoix.

I had a lot of helpshe mentions. From the people of Charlevoix, researchers. I have developed my own point of view regarding this story. It is certain that the story will be tinged from a personal point of view.

She admits to having developed a real obsession with Laure Conan who lived a life going against the grain of her time.

I developed an obsession with her, which took me to the Ursuline archives in Quebec, because she studied at the Ursulines. I went to the archives of the Charlevoix Museum. It’s incredible to have made a living through writing at that time.

After spending a few years doing personal research, she will finally be able, thanks to a grant from the SODECfocus on writing the screenplay.

Among the other projects that are keeping him busy at the moment, the feature film Haunt, which is awaiting funds to enter production. It’s a great family filmshe said without being able to reveal more. It’s a different environment, let’s say it’s a family fantasy comedy.

India Desjardins has also been working on writing an essay since 2023, aimed at young adults, on the representation of girls and love in fiction.