Thunder and Light
Page 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The original French version of this book was written with support from the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, and the English translation with the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts, both of whom receive my deepest thanks. Thanks are also due to Marisa Zavalloni for her constant support during the writing of the original, as well as to Art Kara, Bhante Wimala, and Bill T. Jones for their inspirational words and thoughts.
— M.-C. B.
MARIE-CLAIRE BLAIS is the internationally revered author of more than thirty books, many of which have been published around the world. In addition to the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, which she has won four times, Blais has been awarded the Gilles-Corbeil Prize, the Médicis Prize, the Molson Prize, and Guggenheim Fellowships. She divides her time between Quebec and Florida.
NIGEL SPENCER has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation with three novels by Marie-Claire Blais: Thunder and Light, Augustino and the Choir of Destruction, and Mai at the Predators’ Ball, which was also a finalist for the QWF Cole Foundation Prize for Translation. He has translated numerous other works and films by and about Marie-Claire Blais, Poet Laureate Pauline Michel, Évelyne de la Chenelière, and others. He is also a film-subtitler, an editor, and an actor. He lives in Montreal.
House of Anansi Press was founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and David Godfrey. Anansi started as a small press with a mandate to publish Canadian writers, and quickly gained attention for publishing authors such as Margaret Atwood, Matt Cohen, Michael Ondaatje, and Erín Moure, as well as George Grant and Northrop Frye. French-Canadian works in translation have always been an important part of the list, and prominent Anansi authors in translation include Roch Carrier, Marie-Claire Blais, Anne Hébert, and France Daigle. Today, the company specializes in finding and developing writers of literary fiction, poetry, drama, and nonfiction, including Katherena Vermette, Lisa Moore, Patrick deWitt, Tanya Talaga, Djamila Ibrahim, Kathleen Winter, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, and in maintaining the culturally significant backlist that has accumulated in the decades since the house was founded.
The A List
The Outlander Gil Adamson
The Circle Game Margaret Atwood
Moving Targets Margaret Atwood
Power Politics Margaret Atwood
Second Words Margaret Atwood
Survival Margaret Atwood
These Festive Nights Marie-Claire Blais
La Guerre Trilogy Roch Carrier
The Hockey Sweater and Other Stories Roch Carrier
Hard Core Logo Nick Craine
Great Expectations Edited by Dede Crane and Lisa Moore
Queen Rat Lynn Crosbie
The Honeyman Festival Marian Engel
The Bush Garden Northrop Frye
Eleven Canadian Novelists Interviewed by Graeme Gibson
Five Legs Graeme Gibson
Death Goes Better With Coca Cola Dave Godfrey
Technology and Empire George Grant
Technology and Justice George Grant
De Niro’s Game Rawi Hage
Kamouraska Anne Hébert
Ticknor Sheila Heti
Waterloo Express Paulette Jiles
No Pain Like This Body Harold Sonny Ladoo
Red Diaper Baby James Laxer
Civil Elegies Dennis Lee
Mermaids and Ikons Gwendolyn MacEwen
Ana Historic Daphne Marlatt
Like This Leo McKay Jr.
The Selected Short Fiction of Lisa Moore
Furious Erín Moure
Selected Poems Alden Nowlan
Poems for All the Annettes Al Purdy
Manual for Draft Age Immigrants to Canada Mark Satin
Rochdale David Sharpe
The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches Gaétan Soucy
Stilt Jack John Thompson
Made for Happiness Jean Vanier
Basic Black with Pearls Helen Weinzweig
Passing Ceremony Helen Weinzweig
The Big Why Michael Winter
This All Happened Michael Winter