Discipline: literature

élise ross-nadié

(Selena Phillips-Boyle)-1(1)

Élise Ross-Nadié is passionate about the links, nexuses and intersections between digital cultures, power and dreams. She also has a marked interest in free software, knowledge decolonization and Afrofuturism. She has had the privilege of bringing her stories and hybrid projects to over fifteen countries. Her experiences have yielded all manner of artifacts: Wikipedia articles, a guide to identifying wild roses, close friendships, an amazing literary tour, a collective work between Canada and Cuba, a collection of feminist texts and numerous dance sessions.

Élise seeks to depart from her usual routine to explore science fiction as a prefigurative tool in the context of a literary project. In a two-part novel—with the first one dealing with the crisis brought on by the excesses of the capitalist political-economic system and the second reflecting on reconstruction—she sets out to follow a group of activists of colour both before and during the crisis, and then in the new reality.

Through alternating between the two sections, a dynamic and non-linear narrative is created during which the audience wavers between moments of dismay, suffering and questioning, and moments of inspiration, hope and renewal. This narrative strategy highlights the paradox of change, which involves destructive and painful questioning, but also makes dreams possible.

Photo : Selena Phillips-Boyle

amandine gay

Director, author, and activist, Amandine Gay divides her time between research, creation, and “paper business”. She has been back in Tiohtià:ke / Montreal since June 2022 – after an eight-year immigration saga.

Following, Ouvrir La Voix – her first self-produced and self-distributed film giving the floor to twenty-four French-speaking Afro-descendant women – released in French, Belgian and Swiss cinemas in 2017 and Quebec in 2018; she directed a second documentary, A Story of Its Own. This archival film is on national adoption from the point of view of 5 adopted people, now adults. She is a regular speaker on Afro-feminism, film, intersectionality, and adoption. In 2018, she founded the Mois des Adoptées, a series of events: conferences, screenings, performances, workshops. This is held every year in November between France, Switzerland, and Quebec to allow adoptees to reclaim their narrative. In 2021, she published her first book at La Découverte (France) and Remue-Ménage (Quebec), Une poupée en chocolat, an autobiographical essay on adoption.

Its new projects aim to continue and deepen its dialogue between the world of research and art, through a multifaceted reflection-creation around white supremacy involving the writing of an essay, curation of an exhibition, and publication of an exhibition catalog. She also intends to rely on Alliance’s support to develop her career on the English-speaking side of North America, in particular by working on the translation and English-language edition of her first book.

Website: https://linktr.ee/orpheonegra
Photo credits: Jean-Baptiste Demouy (Radio-Canada)

letícia tórgo

Letícia Tórgo is a writer, dramaturg and translator, as well as the founder of the production company Da Gaveta (in Brazil) and Dans le Tiroir (in Québec). Although she developed a rich literary career in native Brazil, in 2014, Letícia began to write in French and English in Montreal. As a dramaturg, she has worked on the productions “Somos ici”, presented at MAI in 2016 (with Florence Bobier); “Disquiet”, with the Black Theatre Workshop’s Artist Mentorship Program in 2017; and “Saudade”, presented as part of Festival tout’tout court in 2018. As a translator, Letícia has developed a Portuguese version of the Canadian theatre show “Siri” (Glassco Translation Residency, Tadoussac) in 2016 and translated Pascal Brulleman’s “Petite Sorcière” from French to Portuguese. As a writer, Letícia is drawn to the field of autofiction, especially to the relation between mother and daughter.  Her newest project, Entre les langues, is inspired by her experience of living, writing, and dreaming in different languages.

 

Image : Alline Ourique