The Canada Council for the Arts awarded the Governor General’s Literary Award on Wednesday to Marie Hélène Poitras, in the Novels and Short Stories category, for her collection of short stories Galumpf.
Published by Alto in the spring, this collection of 11 short stories is a quilt of stories around empathy, as well as the search for ways to connect with others and live harmoniously with others – “but without crushing each other no more,” according to the author.
“I am happy to have won the prize with a collection of short stories, which is a surprisingly unloved genre,” Marie Hélène Poitras told La Presse. And as an author, it’s a bit of my favorite genre because the short story is like a concentrate of intensity. »
The author of La désiderate and Suddenly the Minotaur emphasized that the eponymous short story of her collection explores the origin of her discovery of writing, reading, literature and language learning. “I also go back to my childhood in Aylmer, in the Outaouais. So it’s still quite a personal text. »
Interestingly, this year, she adds, it was also a collection of short stories that won the prize in the same category in English: Chrysalis, by Anuja Varghese (House of Anansi Press).
The other finalists in the Novels and Short Stories category were L’or des mélèzes, by Carole Labarre (Mémoire d’encrier); My Son Did Not Return for Seven Days, by David Clerson (Heliotrope); Dark is the night, by Brigitte Haentjens (Boréal); and A postcard from the ocean, by Stéfani Meunier (Leméac).
In total, 14 titles were chosen in French and English among the 70 finalists of the year.
In poetry, Innu poet and writer Rita Mestokosho won the prize for Atikᵁ utei. The Heart of the Caribou (Inkwell Memory). In the Essay and Theater categories, the winners are respectively Faux Rebels: The Drifts of Political Incorrectness, by Philippe Bernier Arcand (Poètes de bush), and Gros Gars, by Mathieu Gosselin (Somme tout). Then, in Translation, it was the French version of Esi Edugyan’s novel, In the Shadow of the Sun: Reflections on Race and Stories, translated by Catherine Ego (Boréal), which stood out.
As for children’s literature, in the text category, the winner is Lou Beauchesne with Unforgettable (The Short Scale), while in the illustrated children’s books, it is The Littlest Savior in the World which was chosen, a story for ages 7 and up by Samuel Larochelle and Ève Patenaude which addresses ecoanxiety.
“I hope that I have put my finger on something with the subject, that my words are up to what I wanted to write, that the illustrations of Ève Paternaude have come to envelop and explode little bombs in the hearts of the people who read us,” said Samuel Larochelle.
The book, which was published last fall by XYZ, won the Espiègle prize in the spring and was among the finalists for the Prix des libraires du Québec 2024. It will also be published in French-speaking Europe as well as in English , while a second volume is due to appear next year.
“It’s a completely crazy fall because I’m celebrating my 10th anniversary in the literary world, I’m publishing a novel for adults [Elias and Justine], a bio [Louise Portal – Aimer, incarnate, writes] and my cabaret Accent Queer is now at Factory C, which was already a sign of approval from the artistic community. And there, to have this award, it’s like an even more powerful seal of approval, because at my age, it’s like the highest literary distinction that you can have across Canada.” , he said.
Winners of the Governor General’s Literary Awards receive $25,000 for their book, while the publisher receives $3,000 to promote it and finalists receive $1,000.
