PERFORMANCE

Born in Montréal in 1945, Denise Desautels has published more than thirty books of poetry and prose, earning her numerous accolades, including the Governor General’s Award of Canada, the Grand Prix Québecor of the International Poetry Festival, and the Prix Athanase-David. She is a member of the Order of Canada, the National Order of Québec, the Académie des lettres du Québec, the Francophone Writers’ Parliament, and the Women’s Committee of the Québec Center of PEN International. Recently included in the Poésie/Gallimard collection with L’angle noir de la joie, followed by D’où surgit parfois un bras d’horizon, she received the 2022 Apollinaire Prize for her collection Disparaître: autour de 11 œuvres de Sylvie Cotton, published in France by Éditions L’herbe qui tremble and in Québec by Éditions du Noroît.

Charlotte Francœur is a poet and co-director of Éditions du Noroît in Montréal. In 2016, she co-founded Éditions Omri, where she oversaw the literary and artistic direction. She is the author of Adieu les crevettes (Noroît, 2023), Hier est une violence (Omri, 2020), and co-author of Maison suivi d’Une pratique de l’instant (Omri, 2020), in collaboration with Louise Warren and Éloïse Lamarre.

Mélissa Labonté has been dedicated to writing and publishing in Montréal for several years. Holding a master’s degree in literary studies from UQAM, she published her research under the title Faire maille (L’instant même, 2017) and contributed to the book Enjeux du contemporain en poésie au Québec (PUM, 2022, Gabrielle-Roy Prize). Active in the publishing industry for over a decade, she is currently the director of the publishing house Bibliothèque québécoise while also serving as literary co-director of Noroît alongside Charlotte Francœur. In 2024, she published her first poetry collection, Scaphandre.

Louise Dupré is a poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, and a member of the Académie des lettres du Québec. She has published around twenty works, earning her numerous awards and distinctions. Many of her books have also been translated into other languages. Her latest poetry collection, Exercices de joie, concludes a trilogy that includes Plus haut que les flammes (2010; Grand Prix Québecor of the International Poetry Festival, Governor General’s Award, and the Gatien-Lapointe/Jaime-Sabines Poetry Prize – as well as being a finalist for the Estuaire-Bistrot Leméac Prize, the Grand Prix de la Ville de Montréal, and the Readers’ Choice Award at the Montréal Poetry Market) and La main hantée (2016; Governor General's Award and the Vénus Khoury-Ghata Prize). The trilogy explores the capacities of the poetic to confront horror and despair.