Jean-Michel Fortier (author / auteur)

Jean-Michel Fortier was born in Quebec City in 1987. He studied literature at Laval University and cinema at the University of Montréal. His debut and sophomore novels were translated into English by Katherine Hastings as The Unknown Huntsman and The Electric Baths. His fourth novel, Tout me revient maintenant, was shortlisted for the Prix littéraire des collégien(ne)s, published in France and translated into English by Jonathan Kaplansky as It’s All Coming Back to Me Now. Fortier is also the author of the children’s novel La sorcière de Noirefontaine, published in 2025.

Jonathan Kaplansky (translator / traducteur)

Jonathan Kaplansky studied at Tufts University and Université de Paris III, completing a Master’s in French Language and Literature at McGill University and a Master’s in Translation at the University of Ottawa. He won a French Voices Award to translate Annie Ernaux’s Things Seen (La vie extérieure) for the University of Nebraska Press. His publications include Hélène Dorion’s Not Even the Sound of a River (Book*hug), Hélène Rioux’s The Love of Man (Guernica), Francis Catalano’s The Origin of the Future (Guernica), and Jonathan Bécotte’s Like a Hurricane (Orca Books), shortlisted for the David Booth Award for Children’s and Youth Poetry.

He has sat on the juries for the English-translation category of the Governor General’s Literary Awards and the John Glassco translation prize, and participated in various literary festivals, including Blue Metropolis and the Frye Festival.

Isabelle Picard (author / autrice)

Originally from Wendake, Isabelle Picard is a specialist in First Nations affairs. Far from being confined to a single role, she works as an ethnologist, author, columnist, speaker, consultant, and screenwriter. She studied at Université Laval, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in ethnology, a minor in Indigenous studies (anthropology), and a graduate diploma in museology. In 2021, she published her first novel for young readers, Nish : Le Nord et le Sud, with Éditions les Malins. The book was a finalist for the Cécile-Gagnon Award and the 2021 Tamarack Award, and won the Une ville, un livre award (Quebec City’s literary prize).

Pablo Strauss (translator / traducteur)

Pablo Strauss’s many translations from Quebec include novels, personal essays, nonfiction, and comics. He is a three-time finalist for the Governor General’s Award for translation and has published book reviews, shorter translations, and personal essays in Harpers, Geist, Granta, and the Montreal Review of Books. Pablo grew up in Victoria, B.C., and has now lived in Quebec City for two decades. 

Christiane Vadnais (author / autrice)

Christiane Vadnais is a novelist, short-story writer, and audio-fiction writer. Her fiction explores the instability of reality, the transformation of the body, and the intimate connections between living beings. Fauna, her first book, won the Horizons imaginaires speculative fiction award, the CALQ Prize for Emerging Artists in the Capitale-Nationale region, and the Quebec City book award, in addition to being translated into six languages. In 2025, she published Les ressources naturelles, a finalist for the Jacques-Brossard Prize.