Winner of the 2010 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award
Creator: Georgette Leblanc
Nominator: Madeleine Blanchard
Georgette Leblanc’s highly original poetic works Alma (published in 2007) and Amédé (published in 2010) present the Acadian communities of Baie Sainte-Marie, mainly from the perspectives of two memorable characters, yet opening onto multiple and layered perspectives that transcend their times and location. Written in a simple yet vivacious and lyrical style, reflecting the “Acadjoune” speech of the region, these poem-stories move well beyond an Acadian folkloric cliché to attain a mythic ambience, and have been favourably compared with the work of Antoinine Maillet, Michel Tremblay and anglophone Nova Scotian writers such as Ernest Buckler and George Elliot Clarke. Both the multiple prize-winning Alma and the recently published Amédé have become bestsellers in Quebec and the Atlantic region, and have won acclaim in poetry festivals in France, Belgium and Canada.
Brief bio: Georgette Leblanc was born in Pointe-de-l’Èglise on Nova Scotia’s Baie Saint-Marie where she currently lives and works. She attended Université Sainte-Anne (BA 1999) and holds and MA (2003) and Doctorate (2007) in French Studies from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, US. Her projects range through poetry, performance, humor, acting and theatre design, winning numerous award nominations and prizes. She has taught creative literature, popular Acadian Theatre, and lectured and presented her poetic work in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, France and Belgium.
