APR 15, 2012

TRANSLATION

Rue Fabre: Centre of the Universe, Donald Winkler's translation of Jean-Claude Germain's Montreal childhood memories from the 1940s, has just been published by Véhicule Press. For more details or to order a copy please click here.

Also due to appear this spring: The Universe Explained to my Grandchildren by Hubert Reeves, an initiation into cosmology for young teenagers, published by Salammbo Press.

Meanwhile, Winkler's translation into English of Partita for Glenn Gould, Georges Leroux's wide-ranging and luminous appreciation of the great pianist, was awarded the 2011 Governor General's Literary Award for French to English translation.

Here is the Governor General's Award citation: "Georges Leroux's brilliant essay shines with the musicality of language that reflects Gould's life and creative discovery. Winkler expresses the depth of feeling and baroque complexity of the original text with impressive sensitivity, dexterity and precision. A masterful performance, at once learned and lyrical, it is a tour de force."

And here is a review of the book, which includes an assessment of the translation.

In the works for the coming year:

Pierre Nepveu's collection of poetry, Les verbes majeurs (The Major Verbs), published by Véhicule Press, and a biography of Pierre Jeanniot, former president of Air Canada and the inventor of the now ubiquitous Black Box. The book, Pierre Jeanniot: aux commandes du ciel, was written by Jacqueline Cardinal and Laurent Lapierre, published in French by the Presses de L'Université du Québec, and in English by Ottawa University Press. Also, To the Spring, by Night (À la Source, la nuit) Seyhmus Dagtekin's lyrical account of his growing up in a small Kurdish village in the Turkish mountains. To be published by McGill-Queen's University Press.

FILM

Margaret & Evergon was awarded first prize for best documentary at the 2012 Macon Film Festival. It also received an Honourable Mention at the 2011 Image+Nation film festival in Montreal.

It is now being distributed in Canada and the United states by Ciné-Fête.

See a review of the film by Marianne Ackerman in RoverArts: "A many-sided gem of a film, not to be missed."

See a short hallway interview with director Donald Winkler, filmed at the CBC in May, 2011 on the occasion of the film's first Montreal screening.

Read a piece on the film by Matthew Hays in the Montreal Mirror.

Here is a short clip from the film.

And below is a short description of the film:

In 1999, the celebrated Montreal photographer Evergon took a remarkable series of nude portraits of his own mother, then 80 years old. The photographs were instantly recognized as a singular achievement: the black and white images embodied not the infirmities of old age, but a timeless strength, dignity, even majesty.

In 2007 Margaret Lunt left her long-time home in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and moved to Montreal to live with her son. It was shortly afterwards that filmmaker Donald Winkler embarked on a project that would explore what lay behind that series of photographs, uncovering in the process a poignant family history, a woman's determination to be her own person, and a unique and inspiring relationship between mother and son. The result... is Margaret & Evergon.