2007 Finalist
Creator: Georgette Leblanc
Nominator: Carol Doucet
Seconders: Dawn Arnold, Rolande Comeau
Alma is a collection of poetry with a narrative thread that evokes particular places, times and people in the Baie Sainte Marie region. The poet artfully mixes local dialect with standardized French and brings oral and vernacular traditions to the written word. The collection is replete with beautiful poetic images and insight into the inner life of the protagonist, Alma. While the text follows its main character through various eras, most notably the turbulent times of the Depression and Second World War, Alma is more than just a story. Its rich and eloquent language presents powerful images through a dialect that has too seldom been celebrated in literature. In addition to beautiful imagery, this is a work that gives a largely unwritten language place and importance.
