The Montreal Book Grand Prize to Élise Turcotte

Élise Turcotte received the Montreal Book Grand Prize on Wednesday evening for her story Self-portrait of anotherduring a ceremony at city hall.

This is the second time that the author has won this award, which was also given to her in 2011 for Guyana.

“This award is very important,” underlined the author. I have already participated in juries for the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal; It’s crazy work and I know how much it generates literary discussions. It really comforts me. »

Published last year by Alto, Self-portrait of another was born from his long-time “obsession” with his aunt, Denise Brosseau. “This is perhaps my most personal book. In fact, it’s the first time I’ve featured myself in a book to this extent,” she added.

The novelist, poet and essayist said she thought about this book for 10 years, before finally finding its form. “As I wrote in the book, at first I wanted to make a film about it. I told myself that this is a subject that deserves a lot of images and that calls for a lot of images. I would have liked to go and shoot in Mexico; I saw cinema scenes. But Marie-Andrée Beaudet, who was Gaston Miron’s companion, told me that it was a book that I had to do,” recalled Élise Turcotte.

Born in 1936 in Sorel, actress Denise Brosseau lived in Paris and Mexico, sharing a few years of her life with filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky. She also maintained a romantic correspondence with Gaston Miron. Suffering from mental illness and alcoholism, she killed herself in Montreal in 1986.

“It’s strange to win a prize with a book that talks about a woman who lived a difficult life, with a tragedy at the end,” said Élise Turcotte. But at the same time, I tell myself that she must be happy if she sees me. I don’t believe in life after death, but in a metaphorical world, let’s say, it’s like now she’s my lucky star. It continues to keep her alive, in a sense. »

The jury, chaired by the poet and novelist Carole David, praised the “great freedom of writing” with which the author, through an unresolved investigation, revives the memory of a woman “whose life should not be forgotten.” “The intimate and family story intersects with the cultural and intellectual history of the 60s, 70s and 80s. It is an exploration of the self skillfully turned towards the other, in fluid and captivating writing,” declared Carole David.

Élise Turcotte has authored nearly thirty books over the past decades, accumulating awards. This fall, she received the prestigious Athanase-David Prize, which recognizes the remarkable contribution of a writer to Quebec literature and their entire body of work. Self-portrait of another was also in the running for the Janette-Bertrand Literary Prize, awarded at the end of November, as well as for the Quebec Booksellers Prize last spring.

In addition to the Ringuet prize from the Académie des lettres du Québec which was awarded to him for The appearance of the deer (in 2019), Élise Turcotte twice won the Governor General’s Literary Award, for her novel The foreign house (in 2002) and for his collection of youth poems Rose: behind the curtain of madness (in 2009). She also received twice at the start of her career the Émile-Nelligan prize, awarded to a poet under 35, for Carla’s voice and for The earth is here.

The four other finalist titles at the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal this year were Mood Swings de Frankie Barnet (McClelland & Stewart), Wollstonecraft by Sarah Berthiaume (Éditions de Ta Mère), Novel without anything by Antoine Charbonneau-Demers (VLB) and The account is good by Louis-Daniel Godin (La Peuplade).

The author will receive a $15,000 grant from the City of Montreal, while the finalists will receive a $1,000 grant.

Visit the site to discover the finalist titles