Atuk
Conversation with Michel Jean

On Monday, November 7 at 8:00 p.m., the Canadian Cultural Centre invites you to a literary conversation with Innu author Michel Jean, on the occasion of the publication in France of his novel, Atuk (Éditions Dépaysage, 2022).

In the wake of the successful novel Kukum (Éditions Dépaysage, 2020; Éditions Points, 2022), and with the same sincerity, Atuk is a moving dialogue across time and space.  Michel Jean‘s commitment and Indigenous roots resonate in his writing. The quest for identity is the key element in his work.

Atuk
Him and her. She is Jeannette, daughter of Almanda and Thomas. He is Michel, her grandson. Two characters who, from a distance, tell their own story. She recalls her youth, spent between the lakes and forests of her ancestral territory, Nitassinan, until her marriage, which led her to leave her family and move to the city. He, a journalist in Montreal, comes to visit her body and wonders about her identity. Because the Indian, he is told, is inside him…

Biography
Michel Jean is an investigative journalist and news anchor for TVA, a French-language Canadian television network. He comes from the Innu community of Mashteuiatsh, on the western shore of Lac Saint-Jean in Quebec. He has published a dozen books, all of which have received critical acclaim across the Atlantic.

For Éditions Dépaysage, in the “Talismans” collection, he edited and contributed to Amun, a collection of short stories written by Quebec Indigenous authors, and published Kukum (finalist for the Jacques Lacarrière Prize, winner of the Prix littéraire France-Québec 2020, the Prix VLEEL 2020, the Prix Nature Nomade 2021 and the Prix Étincelles 2022) and Maikan. Kukum has also just been published in paperback by Éditions Points.

The conversation will be conducted by Emmanuel Khérad, host and producer of the programme La Librairie Francophone (broadcast on France inter, Radio Canada, RTBF, RTS and RFI) and journalist at TV5 Monde.

The conversation will be followed by a signing session.

In partnership with Éditions Dépaysage