After the CEGEP students who awarded her the College Students’ Literary Prize last month, it is the turn of the booksellers to reward Emmanuelle Pierrot for her first novel, The version that interests no one.
The young author won the prize in the Quebec novel-short story-story category, Thursday evening at Club Soda. “I’m really happy, I didn’t expect that at all. Quite honestly, I thought it was Éric Chacour [qui était parmi les finalistes] who was going to get it! “, she confided to The Press.
Published at the Quartiere last fall, The version that interests no one tells the story of a young Quebec punk who lands in Dawson City, Yukon, and who suddenly becomes the black sheep of the small community of misfits to which she has joined.
I find it astonishing [de remporter le prix] because my book has something really raw about it. There was really a process on my part to put my guts on the table as much as possible and to write without filter. I could have chilled readers by the harshness of the words and the sentences which are not necessarily made in lace or to be very soft and beautiful.
Emmanuelle Pierrot, novelist
“I had thought that the book would only interest people of my generation,” she added, “but for it to cross generations is so far beyond my expectations. There are 75-year-old men who identify with Sacha! It really touched me to see that the feeling of rejection is a reality that everyone experiences. »
Emmanuelle Pierrot stressed that this prize, with a $10,000 grant, will allow her to focus on her next novel over the coming months. “I realized how difficult it was to work on my writing projects while living the life of The version that interests no one. I have attended several book fairs over the past two months: the Brussels Book Fair, then I had an event in Paris, I was at the Quebec Book Fair, on the North Shore, then I going to Vancouver for the Francophone Book Fair [du 23 au 25 mai]. »
Among the five Quebec novels finalist for the prize this year were also What I know about you, by Éric Chacour (Viola), Granby in the simple past, by Akim Gagnon (La Mèche), Hotlineby Dimitri Nasrallah (La Peuplade), and Self-portrait of anotherby Élise Turcotte (Viola).
In the same category, for novels, short stories and stories published outside Quebec, it was the French writer and winner of the Femina Neige Sinno prize who won the prize for her book sad tigerpublished in the fall by POL and inspired by the incest she suffered during her childhood.
A comic book with a message
In comics, booksellers have chosen A jellyfishby Boum (Éditions Pow Pow), among the titles published in Quebec, and The little lightby Grégory Panaccione, based on the novel by Antonio Moresco (Delcourt), among the finalists outside Quebec.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The cartoonist Boum, whose real name is Samantha Leriche-Gionet
Cartoonist Samantha Leriche-Gionet, alias Boum, was also delighted with this prestigious award. “I find it incredible. There are a lot of people who discover me with A jellyfish and who think it’s my first album, but it’s my 16e “, she exclaimed, laughing.
” Doing A jellyfish, I was trying to talk about invisible chronic illnesses, emphasized the cartoonist. Deep down, we never know what the people around us might be fighting. I am now blind in one eye, but before I had spots in the vision in my right eye. I called it my jellyfish. […] I hope that people will come away from this reading changed, that they will understand that there are illnesses that others do not see. And with drawing, we can understand even better. »
The booksellers also rewarded two authors in the essay and poetry categories: Dahlia Namian for The provocative society: essay on the obscenity of the rich (published by Lux) and Juliette Langevin for her collection Mean girl (The Cravan Goose).
The Prix des libraires du Québec rewards titles chosen by booksellers from across the province since 1994. The winners will receive scholarships ranging from $3,000 to $10,000, offered by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), the des arts de Montréal (CAM) and the Quebec Booksellers Association.
The books that won the 2024 Booksellers Prize
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Category novel-short stories-Quebec story
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Category novel-short stories-story outside Quebec
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Quebec poetry category
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Quebec essay category
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Quebec comics category
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Comics category outside Quebec
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Visit the Quebec Booksellers Prize website