The Montreal literary community is having a great year!
Almost 500 people gathered on May 11 at Club Soda for a particularly festive 2023 edition of the Gala du Prix des libraires du Québec. Organized by the Association des libraires du Québec, this unique cultural event brings writers and book lovers together.
For the first time ever, prizes in the Poetry and Essay categories were awarded to a single author, Marie-Hélène Voyer! The Conseil des arts de Montréal awarded her $5,000 for L’habitude des ruines.
This magnificent text addresses Québeckers’ troubled relationship to time and space. Voyer discusses serial demolitions, and the tendency to use borrowed images to romanticize inhabiting this land. The essays offer up a plea on behalf of the more modest spaces of daily life, where hope and solidarity reside.
“The Conseil des arts de Montréal wishes to celebrate all literary genres. Montreal’s literary community enjoys a wealth of variety. Therein lies its strength, and CAM is proud to support the Essay category for a sixth consecutive year.”
– Message from Nathalie Maillé, Executive Director of the Conseil des arts de Montréal
