A Double Book Launch with QC Fiction, an imprint of Baraka Books, and Book*hug – featuring a conversation with Éric Mathieu, author of The Little Fox of Mayerville (QC Fiction) and translator Peter McCambridge, and the launch of Drama Queens by Vickie Gendreau, translated by Aimee Wall (Book*hug).

THE LITTLE FOX OF MAYERVILLE
Émile Claudel is no ordinary child. Only months after his birth, following the liberation of France in 1945, he can already chatter away in several languages, much to his mother’s frustration. Nicknamed the Little Fox for his appearance, Émile is born into a loveless home, where patience is in short supply. Abandoned by his family, he struggles to find a place in society. This deftly written coming-of-age novel follows Émile on his journey toward adulthood, as his country moves away from austere conservatism and embraces the counterculture of the 1960s.

DRAMA QUEENS
In 2012, Vickie Gendreau was diagnosed with a brain tumour and wrote a book narrating her own death. Testament could have been Gendreau’s first and only novel, but she kept writing, furiously, until the very end.
Published posthumously after Gendreau’s death in 2013 at age 24, Drama Queens continues her exploration of illness and death that began in Testament, but with even greater urgency and audacity. In her singular voice, Gendreau mixes genres and forms, moving from art installations to fantastical little films to poetry, returning again and again to a deeply raw and unflinching narrative of her increasingly difficult days.
With rage, dark humour, and boundless spirit and imagination, Drama Queens, translated by Aimee Wall, records the daily life of a young woman living with a failing body, the end in sight, and still so much to say.

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ÉRIC MATHIEU is a professor at the Department of Linguistics at the University of Ottawa and a writer. He studied at University College London and has lived in Canada’s capital since 2004. His first novel, Les suicidés d’Eau-Claire (La Mèche), was a finalist for the prestigious Trillium Book Award in 2017. Le Goupil, published in French by La Mèche and now translated as The Little Fox of Mayerville, is his second novel and the first to appear in English.

VICKIE GENDREAU was born in Montréal in 1989. While working in Montréal strip clubs from October 2009 to June 2012, she was also active in the literary community, where she participated in events like the Off-Festival de poésie de Trois-Rivières. She was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2012 and passed away a year later. Her first novel, Testament, written after her diagnosis, was published in fall 2012. It was longlisted for the 2013 Prix littéraire France-Québec, and the English edition was published by Book*hug in 2016. Her second novel, Drama Queens, was published posthumously in 2014.

Newfoundland-native AIMEE WALL is a writer and translator. She has previously translated the novels Testament by Vickie Gendreau, and Sports and Pastimes by Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard, as well as Maude Veilleux’s Prague, a co-translation with Aleshia Jensen. Her debut novel, We, Jane, is forthcoming with Book*hug. She lives in Montréal.

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Librairie Drawn & Quarterly recognizes that our events and bookstores are located on the unceded territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka. Many of us refer to Montreal as our home, but it is named Tiohtiá:ke. This has always been a gathering place for many First Nations and continues to be home to a diverse population of Indigenous peoples. It is important to think about how each and every one of us has arrived here. We are grateful that creating and sharing stories has been a part of this land for thousands of years and we urge you to seek out a story that is different from your own.

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