MEDIA: Book review –
Nov. 10, 2020 – In part, writing the book was healing for Lord – “an exorcism,” he calls it – allowing him to work through those experiences while finding humour and levity.
“I made myself laugh,” he says. “I gave myself a lot of liberty when writing, so there’s a lot of wordplay.”
Ultimately, he says, it’s meant to be a study of humanity and how we connect to one another.
Lord has since moved back to his home province of Quebec but remains connected to his northern community. Asked to describe the French literary scene in the territory, Lord says it’s “emerging” and often a mixture of oral storytelling and the written word.
“It’s fragile,” he says. “There’s not a lot of people … but it’s important to have French cultural things, and literature is part of it.”
As part of that mission, Lord says he insisted to his publisher that copies of his book be available in Yellowknife – not just because of the time he spent there, but to give the northern Francophone community another option when looking through the bookstore.
“I put all my heart into it, so I hope people got some emotions reading it,” he chuckles.
