translation

Songs for the Cold of Heart by Eric Dupont (translated by Peter McCambridge)

Note to readers: In lieu of the regular review that I would normally post, I am instead publishing a letter* I received from a reader regarding Songs for the Cold of Heart (2018, QC Fiction). I found it fairly sums up my thoughts on the book, and I reprint it here with the sender’s permission.

Dear Mr. Fisher,

May I call you James? I am one of the 12 subscribers to your blog (I do hope you get more soon, people don’t know what they are missing) and I wanted to not only thank you for alerting your few readers to the fact that the east coast of Canada has many fine writers, but la belle province has a number of them as well.… Continue reading

Behind the Eyes We Meet by Mélissa Verreault

Verreault has a master’s degree in translation from Université Laval in Quebec City and lives in Lévis with her Italian husband and their triplets. She has published three novels in French. Behind The Eyes We Meet is the English translation of L’angoisse du poisson rouge, her first novel to be translated. The translator is Arielle Aaronson.

Behind The Eyes We Meet is several stories in one, that of Sergio (a POW in WWII) and his grandson Fabio, who emigrated to Canada and now resides in Montreal, and Manue (short for Emmanuelle) who discerns that there is something missing from her twenty-something life.… Continue reading

I Never Talk About It by Veronique Côté and Steve Gagnon

Fiction, which is an imprint of Quebec’s Baraka Books, has never shied away from producing some exceptional titles during its brief existence. I Never Talk About It is no exception, and is even a departure of sorts for them. This collection of 37 short stories (more akin to monologues than actual stories with dialogue, plot, etc) were originally written in French by two authors, Veronique Côté and Steve Gagnon.… Continue reading

Life in the Court of Matane by Eric Dupont

Fiction is a new imprint of Quebec’s Baraka Books and is dedicated to releasing English translations of new and up-and-coming French Quebec writers. Life in the Court of Matane is the first release of 2016 for QC Fiction. Previously available only in French, Life in the Court of Matane (Bestiaire is the French version’s title) was one of the three finalists for the 2009 Prix Littéraire France-Québec, a literary prize awarded to French readers’ favourite Quebec novels, and was one of La Presse’s top five Quebec novels of 2008.… Continue reading