Blue Metropolis
Encyclopedia
Blue Metropolis is the name for the Montreal
International Literary Festival. Also known as Blue Met, is the world's first multilingual literary festival and has been held annually in Montreal since April 1999. It was founded by Montreal writer Linda Leith.
The Blue Metropolis Foundation, which organizes the festival and year-round literary and educational events, was founded in 1997. The first festival took place in April 1999. In 2010, the 12th Blue Met brought together 250 writers, literary translators, illustrators, musicians, actors, journalists and publishers from all around the world for nearly 200 different events in French and in English, with some events taking place entirely in Spanish
, Italian
, Arabic
, German
and Portuguese
.
Simultaneous translation is not normally provided. Instead, the festival publicizes the language of their events, advertises them in the communities concerned, and thus draws the public that speaks the languages of its events. The festival is viewed as a model of inclusion of immigrant and minority communities; its public is often bilingual and sometimes trilingual or multilingual.
In 2008, the festival added the Blue Metropolis Children's Festival, which puts authors for children and young adults in touch with the 12-and-unders at events taking place in various locations, such as public libraries, all over Montreal.
The Foundation's international activities are expanding, including editions of the Blue Metropolis Translation Slam as the only literary events featured at the Canadian pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
The Festival also awards the Al Majidi Ibn Dhaher Arab Literary Prize. Named after the poet Al Majidi Ibn Dhaher, the prize was initiated in 2007 and is worth CAD 5000. The prize is sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage. Dr Issa J. Boullata
serves as consultant for the prize.
Past winners of the Ibn Dhaher prize are:
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
International Literary Festival. Also known as Blue Met, is the world's first multilingual literary festival and has been held annually in Montreal since April 1999. It was founded by Montreal writer Linda Leith.
The Blue Metropolis Foundation, which organizes the festival and year-round literary and educational events, was founded in 1997. The first festival took place in April 1999. In 2010, the 12th Blue Met brought together 250 writers, literary translators, illustrators, musicians, actors, journalists and publishers from all around the world for nearly 200 different events in French and in English, with some events taking place entirely in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
.
Simultaneous translation is not normally provided. Instead, the festival publicizes the language of their events, advertises them in the communities concerned, and thus draws the public that speaks the languages of its events. The festival is viewed as a model of inclusion of immigrant and minority communities; its public is often bilingual and sometimes trilingual or multilingual.
In 2008, the festival added the Blue Metropolis Children's Festival, which puts authors for children and young adults in touch with the 12-and-unders at events taking place in various locations, such as public libraries, all over Montreal.
The Foundation's international activities are expanding, including editions of the Blue Metropolis Translation Slam as the only literary events featured at the Canadian pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
Awards
The Festival awards the Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prize annually on the opening night of the festival. Past winners are:- Dany LaferrièreDany LaferrièreDany Laferrière is a francophone Haitian and Canadian novelist and journalist.Born in Port-au-Prince, Haïti, and raised in Petit Goâve, Laferrière worked as a journalist in Haïti before moving to Canada in 1976...
(2010) - A. S. ByattA. S. ByattDame Antonia Susan Duffy, DBE is an English novelist, poet and Booker Prize winner...
(2009) - Daniel PennacDaniel PennacDaniel Pennac is a French writer. He received the Prix Renaudot in 2007 for his essay Chagrin d'école.After studying in Nice he became a teacher...
(2008) - Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
(2007) - Michel TremblayMichel TremblayMichel Tremblay, CQ is a Canadian novelist and playwright.Tremblay grew up in the Plateau Mont-Royal, a French-speaking neighbourhood of Montreal, at the time of his birth a neighbourhood with a working-class character and joual dialect, something that would heavily influence his work...
(2006) - Carlos FuentesCarlos FuentesCarlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
(2005) - Paul AusterPaul AusterPaul Benjamin Auster is an American author known for works blending absurdism, existentialism, crime fiction and the search for identity and personal meaning in works such as The New York Trilogy , Moon Palace , The Music of Chance , The Book of Illusions and The Brooklyn Follies...
(2004) - Maryse CondéMaryse CondéMaryse Condé is a Guadeloupean, French language author of historical fiction, best known for her novel Segu . Maryse Condé was born as Maryse Boucolon at Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, the youngest of eight children. In 1953, her parents sent her to study at Lycée Fénelon and Sorbonne in Paris,...
(2003) - Mavis GallantMavis GallantMavis Leslie Gallant, , née Mavis Leslie Young is a Canadian writer.-Biography:An only child, Gallant was born in Montreal, Quebec. Her father died when she was young, and her mother remarried. Gallant received her education at seventeen different public, convent, and French-language boarding...
(2002) - Norman MailerNorman MailerNorman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
(2001) - Marie-Claire BlaisMarie-Claire BlaisMarie-Claire Blais, is a Canadian author and playwright.- Life :Born in Quebec City, Quebec, she was educated at a convent school and at Université Laval. It was at Laval that she met Jeanne Lapointe and Father Georges Lévesque, who encouraged her to write and, in 1959, to publish her first...
(2000)
The Festival also awards the Al Majidi Ibn Dhaher Arab Literary Prize. Named after the poet Al Majidi Ibn Dhaher, the prize was initiated in 2007 and is worth CAD 5000. The prize is sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage. Dr Issa J. Boullata
Issa J. Boullata
Issa J. Boullata is a Palestinian scholar, writer, and translator of Arabic literature. He was born in Jerusalem on 25 February 1929 during the British Mandate of Palestine. He obtained a First Class BA in Arabic and Islamic studies in 1964 followed by a PhD in Arabic literature in 1969, both...
serves as consultant for the prize.
Past winners of the Ibn Dhaher prize are:
- Alaa Al AswanyAlaa Al AswanyAlaa al-Aswany is an Egyptian writer, and a founding member of the political movement Kefaya.-Biography:Alaa Al Aswany studied to be a dentist, first in Egypt, and then later Chicago....
(2011) - Joumana HaddadJoumana HaddadJoumana Haddad is a renowned Lebanese poet, translator and journalist.-Career:She has already published several poetry collections, widely acclaimed by critics...
(2010) - Zakaria Tamer (2009)
- Saadi YoussefSaadi YoussefSaadi Yousef is an Iraqi author, poet, journalist, publisher, and political activist. He has published thirty volumes of poetry and seven books of prose.-Life:Saadi Yousef studied Arabic literature in Baghdad...
(2008) - Elias Khoury (2007)