The Quebecor Grand Prize of the
Trois-Rivières International Poetry Festival

Following a lengthy deliberation, it is not uncommon to hear a jury member comment on how difficult—even arduous— the task of selecting a winner for a particular literary or cultural award was. So common, in fact, it has almost become a cliché. And we are in the same boat, making the same claims ... but, in our case,  IT IS TRUE !

Jury members wish to applaud the high calibre of the 53 books and manuscripts which were submitted this year. The four shortlisted books were selected for their exceptional writing and insight. Listed here, alphabetically by author, they are : Carole David, for Terra vecchia (Herbes rouges), Marcel Labine, for Le Pas gagné (Herbes rouges), René Lapierre, for L'Eau de Kiev (Herbes rouges) and Jean-François Poupart, for Tombe Londres Tombe (Éditions Poètes de brousse).

Each of the four poets were singled out for their originality and the remarkable coherence of their collection. Jury citations noted the rigour with which each of them handled the formal and thematic aspects of their work.

Carole David's Terra vecchia is a veritable archaeology of the intimate. Both a quest for origins and a meeting ground, this poetic work bears little resemblance to a conventional search for roots. Here, David weaves a demanding work of verse, a reconciliation, a repair, an authentic decontamination of our origins and of the unpredictable and worrisome strangeness of the binding ties that continue to make and break us.

L'Eau de Kiev by René Lapierre is, certainly, as one jury member commented « one of those rare books that makes us want to live well into old age. » Characterized by lively writing and a happy combination of verse and prose, L'Eau de Kiev is one of the best examples of the successful alchemy of narrative and poetry. This is a humble and human book, one that isn't afraid to come out and say how frightened we are. A book that, despite the times, still isn't afraid to hope for beauty and dignity.

Tombe Londres Tombe by Jean-François Poupart is the paradoxical crucible where the most definitive silence and the most booming images converge and harmonize. A deeply urban poetry, the book is set in a London that is as realistic as it is mythic, geographic as it is metaphorical, a London of juxtapositions : death and resurrection, wounds and scars, chaos and « perfect geometry ». Clearly, Jean-François Poupart is one of the most respected poets of his generation, « boldly modern » using the language of Rimbaud.

The jury decided to award the grand prize to Marcel Labine for his book Le Pas gagné. Rimbaud—yes, yes, Rimbaud again – insisted on the importance not only of gaining ground, but of « holding on to it ». And Labine has done so, in this highly original and personal work which he has been shaping for over thirty years, perhaps more successfully than his contemporaries from here and elsewhere. Nothing better explains the work than the book's own blurb, excerpted here:

« Quelle place laisse-t-on à l'étrangeté du langage poétique, quel sort réserve-t-on à l'expression d'une parole radicalement individuelle, celle qui se situe à côté de la frivolité ? (...) Est-il possible, aujourd'hui, pour le poète de «tenir le pas gagné », de passer outre les «cantiques », afin d'approcher le plus près possible ce que Rimbaud appelait «la liberté libre » ? »

(What recognition do we give to the strangeness of poetic language, what is the fate of a radically individual statement, one that locates itself next to frivolity ? (...) Today, can a poet « maintain what's been gained » , can he get beyond hymns in order to get as near to Rimbaud's « free freedom » as possible?)

All good poetry poses these same fundamental questions, and Marcel Labine approaches them with an equal measure of intelligence and emotion. Le Pas gagné is a worthy addition to the rich body of work that risks finding answers to them, in the world and in poetry.

Lauréat(e)s des années antérieures: