Immersive, extraordinary, complex: Montreal not only captures creative hearts; it’s an exceptional backdrop to novels that explore the human condition. Three exceptional authors compare notes on this city, as shared in their latest works. Dimitri Nasrallah’s Hotline “sears the heart” with a story of life as a new immigrant in the 80s. Stéfanie Clermont confronts violence, betrayal, and class as experienced by three millennial friends in The Music Game. And Heather O’Neill ushers us into her spellbinding novel When We Lost Our Heads. For lovers of Mount Royal or simply top fiction, this is an ode to the myriad, kaleidoscopic lives in urban centres.

Event Participants:

Stéfanie Clermont

Stéfanie Clermont won the prestigious Ringuet Prize of the Quebec Academy of Arts and Letters for The Music Game, her first book. It also won the Quebec Arts Council’s prize for a new work by a young artist, and the Adrienne Choquette Prize for short stories. (QUÉBEC)

Dimitri Nasrallah

DIMITRI NASRALLAH was born in Lebanon, and lived in Kuwait, Greece, and Dubai before moving to Canada. Hotline is his fourth novel; his books have won the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and the McAuslan First Book Prize. He is the fiction editor at Véhicule Press. (QUEBEC/LEBANON)

Heather O’Neill

HEATHER O’NEILL is the author of When We Lost Our Heads, a spellbinding story about two women whose friendship changes the course of history. Her previous work has won CBC’s Canada Reads and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award, as well as the Giller. (QUEBEC)