Félicitations, Micheline!

Micheline Marchand and her husband Daniel Marchildon are having a pretty good summer.

On June 17, Micheline won the 2015 Trillium Book Award for Children's Literature for her French-language novel Mauvaise Mine. Micheline's book explores the dilemmas facing a Northern Ontario community devastated by the closing of the local mine. The Trillium is Ontario's most prestigious -- and best paying! -- literary award. To give you some idea, among the English-language nominees were Margaret Atwood and Thomas King... The Trillium is a big deal. Congratulations, Micheline!

Funnily enough, Daniel won exactly the same award in 2011, making him and Micheline the first husband and wife combination to take the top prize in the history of the Trillium. There must be something very literary in the water at Lafontaine, where they live...

Daniel's novel The Water of Life (uisge beatha) will be published in English this month. (Don't mention it to Daniel, but I'm going to try and talk him into having a party.) The French-language original L'eau de vie (uisge beatha) won the 2009 Émile-Ollivier literary prize and got lots of good reviews.

As I write this, I believe that Micheline and Daniel are both busy with the Festival du Loup in Lafontaine; and then Daniel is off to Penetanguishene, where he will be playing the part of Samuel de Champlain in the three-day Rendez-vous Champlain (July 31 - August 2).

Yes, a pretty good summer so far. And we're still only half-way through...