Naomi Fontaine
{{Short description|Canadian Innu writer (born 1987)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Naomi Fontaine
| image = File:Naomi fontaine 1007365.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1987|9|29}}
| birth_place = Uashat, Canada
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Novelist, Teacher
| pseudonym =
| genre =
| movement = CanLit
| notableworks = {{plainlist|
- Kuessipan
- Manikanetish
}}| influences =
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| website =
}}
Naomi Fontaine is a Canadian writer from Quebec,[http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1065491/naomi-fontaine-uashat-roman-eleves-innu "Naomi Fontaine : la force des Innus"]. Ici Radio-Canada, November 5, 2017. noted as one of the most prominent First Nations writers in contemporary francophone Canadian literature.[http://blogs.lexpress.fr/les-8-plumes/2015/09/09/rentree-litteraire-coup-de-coeur-kuessipan-de-naomi-fontaine/ "Rentrée littéraire Coup de coeur : « Kuessipan », de Naomi Fontaine"]. L'Express, September 9, 2015 She is a member of the Innu nation.
Biography
A member of the Innu nation from Uashat, Quebec, she studied education at the Université Laval.[http://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/les-malins/segments/entrevue/39618/naomi-fontaine-auteure-innue-roman-manikanetish-eleves-enseignement-uashat "Naomi Fontaine revient aux sources avec Manikanetish"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190807161856/https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/les-malins/segments/entrevue/39618/naomi-fontaine-auteure-innue-roman-manikanetish-eleves-enseignement-uashat |date=2019-08-07 }}. Les malins, September 23, 2017.
Her 2011 debut novel KuessipanThe Innu word means to you or your turn. Quill & Quire, fall preview 2013: Canadian novels received an honourable mention from the Prix des cinq continents de la francophonie in 2012.[http://lenouvelliste.com/article/109398/genevieve-damas-laureate-du-11e-prix-des-cinq-continents-de-la-francophonie "Geneviève Damas, lauréate du 11e prix des cinq continents de la francophonie"]. Le Nouvelliste, September 26, 2012. Kuessipan is an meditative novel about life in the wilds of northeastern Quebec. Fontaine wrote this novel in French at the age of twenty-three. She depicts a community of Innu, nomadic hunters and fishers, and of hard-working mothers and their children, enduring a harsh, sometimes cruel reality with quiet dignity. Pervading the book is a palpable sense of place and time played out as a series of moments. Elders who watch their kin grow up before their eyes; couples engaged in domestic crises, and young people undone by alcohol; caribou-skin drums that bring residents to their feet; and lives spent along a bay that reflects the beauty of the earth and the universal truth that life is a fleeting puzzle whose pieces must be put together before it can be fully lived.{{cite book|url=https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/K/Kuessipan|title=Kuessipan | Arsenal Pulp Press|website=arsenalpulp.com|accessdate=2020-05-19}}
Her second novel, Manikanetish, was published in 2017, and was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for French-language fiction at the 2018 Governor General's Awards.[http://www.lapresse.ca/arts/livres/201810/03/01-5198851-prix-litteraires-du-gouverneur-general-les-finalistes-devoiles.php "Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général: les finalistes dévoilés"]. La Presse, October 3, 2018. Also in 2017, her short piece "Tshinanu" was selected for inclusion in Granta's Canadian issue.[http://www.macleans.ca/culture/why-granta-dedicated-an-entire-issue-to-canadian-writing/ "Why Granta dedicated an entire issue to Canadian writing"]. Maclean's, November 9, 2017.
Manikanetish was selected for the 2019 edition of Le Combat des livres, where it was defended by surgeon Stanley Vollant.[https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1162425/combat-livres-2019-cinq-combattants-national-canada "5 combattants dans le ring du Combat national des livres"]. Ici Radio-Canada, April 8, 2019.
Her novel Kuessipan was adapted by Myriam Verreault into the 2019 theatrical feature film Kuessipan.[https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1072180/tournage-kuessipan-film-innu "Tournage du film Kuessipan : montrer la force des jeunes Innus"]. Ici Radio-Canada, December 9, 2017. Verreault and Fontaine received a Prix Iris nomination for Best Screenplay at the 22nd Quebec Cinema Awards for the film.
Works
- Kuessipan. Mémoire d'encrier, 2011
- {{in lang|en}} transl. David Homel: Kuessipan. Arsenal Pulp Press 2013
- Manikanetish. Mémoire d'encrier, 2013
- {{in lang|en}} transl. David Homel: Tshinanu. Granta #141, special: Canada september 2017, pp. 279–285 (from the French)
- {{in lang|de|fr}} transl. Sonja Finck: Tshinanu. In Jennifer Dummer ed.: Pareil, mais différent - Genauso, nur anders. Frankokanadische Erzählungen. Bilingue. dtv, Munich 2020, pp 92–109
- Avec Olivier Dezutter, Jean-François Létourneau éd.: Tracer un chemin: Meshkanatsheu. Hannenorak, 2017
- Shuni. Mémoire d'encrier, 2019 (winner of the "Prix littéraire des collégiens", 2020)
References
{{reflist|1}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline}}
- {{IMDb name|6997292}}
- {{in lang|fr}} [https://flipbook.cantook.net/?d=%2F%2Fwww.entrepotnumerique.com%2Fflipbook%2Fpublications%2F59158.js&oid=1228&c=&m=&l=fr&r=&f=pdf Extrait de "Manikanetish"], pp 1 – 9
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontaine, Naomi}}
Category:21st-century Canadian novelists
Category:21st-century Canadian women writers
Category:Canadian women novelists
Category:Canadian novelists in French
Category:First Nations novelists
Category:People from Côte-Nord
Category:Université Laval alumni