Frank, generous and sometimes rebellious, Caroline Dawson knew how to evoke with her pen truths that few have dared to name before her. This is what her collaborators and friends testify to, who paint the portrait of a great writer, but also of a great unifier.
After a long and difficult battle with bone cancer, writer Caroline Dawson died on Sunday at the age of 44. In 2021, the author shook up Quebec readers with Where I hidewhich recounts her journey as a refugee from Chile who arrived in Quebec at the age of 7.
“Last night, I lost my greatest accomplice, my confidante, my best friend, my big sister who taught me everything, the one who inspired me with words, tunes, gestures, something like a style and tenacity full of tenderness,” his brother, author Nicholas Dawson, wrote in a Facebook post.
On March 24, 2023, the room at the Librairie Appalache, in Sherbrooke, was full. Caroline Dawson was stopping by for an interview about her first autofiction novel, Where I hide, remembers Félix Morin, columnist for the magazine The Booksellers. “In the crowd, there was a great social mix. It still fascinates me. She really found a way, with this book, to speak to everyone. »
“Why do we love this novel so much? », asks Émilie Perreault, friend of Caroline Dawson and host of the show There will always be culture, at whose microphone the writer has written around thirty columns. “We love it so much, because this novel is Caro: accessible, funny, but touching, angry… She wrote a book as exceptional as she was herself. »
A unifier
“Everyone always wanted to be around Caro, she was really anchored in who she was, but so curious at the same time,” emphasizes Émilie Perreault.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, ARCHIVES SPECIAL COLLABORATION
The host Émilie Perreault worked alongside Caroline Dawson.
The host first discovered Caroline Dawson as a reader. ” I found that [Là où je me terre] was a little gem. » She remembers falling under the writer’s spell from their first meeting. “I was wondering, but where did this girl come from? Where does this confidence come from? »
Émilie Perreault describes Caroline Dawson as an “incredible author” and a “completely vibrant collaborator” who was not afraid to speak out to point out injustices.
On the days when I’m angry, I’ll think of Caro knowing that she wouldn’t want me to turn off that voice.
Émilie Perreault, host
“She had contagious happiness, she was curious about everything… She was like a magnet that everyone wanted to rally around,” remembers Jocelyn Lebeau, who became friends with Caroline Dawson while producing the audio version of Where I hide, broadcast in 2022.
Anyone who knew Caroline Dawson in spring 2021 underlines the unifying character of the writer’s work. “She put her finger on something that hadn’t been told so often. It’s an ordinary immigration story, but one that touched so many people,” he adds.
A great writer
Michel Marc Bouchard met Caroline Dawson in 2021, when he defended Where I hide in the Combat national des livres literary competition. “I immersed myself in this book, which I loved from the first page,” he says. The author had just published her first novel.
“She had an extraordinary talent as a storyteller,” recalls the playwright, according to whom Caroline Dawson’s work shed new light on the role of immigrants in Quebec society.
Lots of immigrants of the night, immigrants of the shadows, suddenly existed in literature thanks to her.
Michel Marc Bouchard
The literary world is experiencing great mourning today, according to Michel Marc Bouchard. “She is a writer who died very young, and who would have had a lot to bring us,” he lets slip.
Félix Morin, who directed a report on Caroline Dawson to be published in June in the journal Quebec letters, agrees in the same direction. “ Where I hideit’s the next great Quebec classic,” he says.
According to the columnist, Caroline Dawson’s work will inspire authors to directly address questions of social class and marginality. “She left us something that I think will make a difference. It is my deep conviction that we will study his texts for a long time to come,” he adds.
An artistic legacy
Daughter of Chilean immigrants, actress Kathy-Alexandra Retamal Villegas immediately recognized herself in Caroline Dawson’s story when she read Where I hide. “My parents also did the housework, I also accompanied them when I was little, I also experienced the changes in my parents’ social class…”, she lists.
So the actress dove in head first when she landed the role of Caroline Dawson in the audiobook of Where I hideand then in the play adapted from the novel by Michel Nadeau, in 2023.
By recounting her journey as a refugee, Caroline Dawson was able to write in black and white a reality previously dismissed by Quebec literature, according to the young woman. “Every time I said the words on stage “I will always side with the humiliated, that’s where I hide”, I considered it a privilege. »
In May 2024, Radio-Canada announced the creation of the Caroline Dawson Prize, which will reward the novel or essay published in French by an emerging writer with an immigrant background. “This award that bears my name is music to my ears. I am very proud and filled with gratitude. It’s a great idea to have this legacy to give,” rejoiced the author when the creation of the prize was announced.
(Re)listen to the podcast Just between you and me Caroline Dawson