37 years ago, fleeing the military dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile, Caroline Dawson and her family reached Quebec. It was Christmas and the seven-year-old was nauseous the entire trip. The story she wrote about it in her autofiction novel, Where I hideshocked the province — and well beyond — when it was released in 2020. But she hadn’t finished telling us.
The writer, teacher, sociologist and columnist publishes Going from afar, a children’s album in which young Caroline, coming from far away, arrives in this snowy country where “she will have to relearn everything”. While the country outside is looking for its snow, The duty met him by videoconference, to discuss this expected publication.
Notebook returning to the land of childhood
People who create, defend or read children’s literature often have to combat the uncontroversial preconception that it is easier to reach a young audience than an adult audience. Even if the author is writing her first children’s title here, she nevertheless knows its ins and outs, having been co-organizer of the Montreal Youth Literature Festival. She also translated the album of her friend Beatriz Carvalho, Anélis and the sea (Isatis, 2020), which explored, in poetic language, the reality of these children forced to immigrate.
Thus, approached by Jade Bérubé, publisher at Éditions de la Bagnole, she initially refused to embark on the adventure: “Initially, I said no to the project. Writing for children intimidated me. Especially since I have children and I know how difficult it can be to please them. »
The editor wanted to address the subject of immigration, motivated by the impression that Quebec badly needed it. A feeling also confirmed by the strong demand from schools, disappointed that no one dares to touch on this delicate subject.
Jade Bérubé was convinced that Caroline Dawson “was capable of writing a different book on immigration”; she was not wrong. Her proposal sowed something in the writer, who soon joined the editor in enthusiasm. When she relaunched it, she even had a very clear idea: “I didn’t want a sad book. The kind of books that parents buy for their good conscience. If I had to talk about immigration, I wanted to do it by talking to children, without it being moralistic or documentary-style. I wanted the children to be able to put themselves in each other’s shoes. »
Awaken the senses
The album project also had the advantage of “harmonizing with cancer”. Caroline Dawson doesn’t hide it, she’s going through difficult days and has to adjust her willpower with the ups and downs of her treatments: “With cancer, you’re good for two weeks, you’re bad for a week. It varies a lot. There are times when I no longer exist for five days, so writing, in that context, is not possible. On the other hand, a children’s book is page by page. It’s not perfect, but it takes me less time to delve into it and get back into the spirit of the book. »
Ignoring the pain, perhaps even looking for a way to escape from it, Caroline Dawson chose to seek her readership by awakening their senses: “Children enter a book through sensations and emotions, and I I said to myself: there must be as many scenes as possible that appeal to the senses. At the sugar shack, it smells like horse shit. Her feet are wet. Her memories come through a feeling which, I find, allows children to recognize themselves and experience these sensations with her. »
The writer, while taking advantage of the juice of her experiences and the maturity of her many perspectives, made sure to be at the child’s level to reach them without intermediary: “All the children learned to put on a clothing snow and know how boring it is, but there is a little girl who, while learning, doesn’t know what’s at the end. And at the end of that, there is snow. What does snow smell like? What is its texture? What happiness comes from it? »
Going from afar therefore depicts several “situations which are part of the daily life of all children”. However, in this recognizable everyday life other, more unusual situations emerge, such as living as a new person in a small apartment: “I think that the children will feel that these situations do not correspond to their experiences, but will be able to identify, understand and put themselves in the shoes of this story. And perhaps give rise to questions and discussions. »
While the author did not think of parents when writing, she admits to recognizing the importance of the support they can offer to nourish and stimulate the discussions that reading would give rise to: “The book ends with a question, because that there is a subtext to the story, which we do not name and which is: what is a refugee? It’s nowhere, but I told myself that this question invited children to revisit the text and find a more complex answer than what emerged from a first reading. Even if it means getting help from their parents. »
Universal immigration
Caroline Dawson was inspired by her personal story, but it was important to her that this book overflowed with her experiences: “I wanted to cast a wide net. Immigration isn’t just my story. So the mother tells her story, but I wanted her to include as many elements as possible, so that it had a universal scope. »
She highlights the valuable contribution of the illustrator Maurèen Pavoinec, who was able to give kind and tender contours to this poignant subject: “Maurèen immediately understood what I wanted. I thought the subject could be scary if drawn in a scary way, so I simply stated my desire for it to be cute. But I didn’t impose anything. I trusted him completely. »
The subject is delicate, of course, and the stories which depict it are often serious. But not all uprooting, not all immigration is the result of the same traumas and the same violence. It is to keep this in mind that she dedicated this book to her son: “His story is also colored by immigration and we sometimes forget it. » Which shows that there are perhaps as many immigration stories as there are immigrants.
Without being impervious to the debates which shake up the news concerning migratory movements, the climate, even tense, matters little to him. It is not aimed at the political class, but at children, the bearers of the future: “There are debates on immigration every five years. I wanted to make a book for children. Of course, it’s the parents who buy or rent the book, but for children, there are never any debates on immigration, so no matter the political context in which the book comes out, it is for them. »
We must hope that the future embraces this offering from Caroline Dawson, and that it offers her, in return, health.