Two well-known French authors, François Gravel and Michèle Marineau, will be touring Prince Edward Island performing literary readings at French schools and Libraries, October 27-29, 2003. The tour is sponsored by the Canadian Council of the Arts and organized by the Departments of Community and Cultural Affairs and Education.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for French library patrons and students to enjoy the readings of these two well-known French authors," said Minister of Community and Cultural Affairs, Elmer MacFadyen. "Libraries play an important role in exposing patrons to literary works, through books, technology and live readings."
The authors will be visiting the three French library branches and some immersion schools. François Gravel will meet grade 5 students and Michèle Marineau grade 10 students, from both French and French immersion schools.
"We are very pleased that our French language students will have this opportunity to meet with well-known Canadian authors first hand," said Education Minister Mildred Dover. "We hope this experience will enhance their love of reading and their appreciation of French novels."
François Gravel is an economics professor at the Cégep Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Over the course of the last twenty years, M. Gravel has published many novels for adults and youth. He is known for his Klonk series for readers nine years and over, which contains 11 titles regularly found on the Communication-Jeunesse's list of most widely-read books by youth. This versatile writer has often proven his talent for writing fantasy as well as touching novels, from the adult novel Adieu, Betty Crocker to La Piste sauvage for teens, and Le Testament de Klonk, for children ages seven and older. François Gravel writes for everyone with great ease. He has received many literary prizes including the M. Christie prize in 1990 for Zamboni, the 1991 Governor General's Literary Award in the youth literature category for Deux heures et demie avant Jasmine, the 1994 Alvine-Bélisle prize for Klonk, and the 2000 M. Christie prize for David et le fantôme.
Michèle Marineau has always loved reading and writing. Her career combines these two passions – revisor and author. A well known youth writer, she won the Governor General's Literary Award twice – first in 1988 for her first novel, Cassiopée, l'Été polonais and in 1993 for La Route de Chlifa, for which she received that same year the 12/17 Brive/Montréal prize and the Alvine-Bélisle prize. Rouge Poison, a teen thriller, earned her the M. Christie prize in 2001. In 2002, she won the Québec/Wallonie-Bruxelles prize for her youth novel Marion et le nouveau monde, which is also nominated this year for the Hackmatack literary prize, awarded by young readers in the Atlantic Provinces. Another interesting fact – Michèle Marineau has translated into French several works of Prince Edward Island's most famous author, Lucy Maud Montgomery.
Québec Amérique, one of the authors' publishers, will provide authors' books to be given as prizes at the readings.
For more information contact: Chantale Bellmare, French Services Librarian, PEI Public Libraries, 902-432-2667 or 902-888-8370.