Anas Barbeau-Lavalette

Anas Barbeau-Lavalette's novel Suzannewill be defended by Yanic Truesdale on Canada Reads 2019. Suzanne was translated by Rhonda Mullins.

The 2019 debates are happening March 25-28, 2019 and will be hosted by Ali Hassan.

• Meet the Canada Reads 2019 contenders

AboutAnas Barbeau-Lavalette

Anas Barbeau-Lavalette is a Montreal-based novelist, screenwriter and director. Throughout her career, she has worked in various media, directingseveral award winning documentary features. She has also directed two fiction features: Le Ring and Inch'allah, which received theFipresciPrize in Berlin. As a young adult, Barbeau-Lavalette spent time living and studying in the West Bank. She revisitedthis scene in her acclaimed sophomore fiction feature film Inch'Allah.

Her bestselling novel La femme qui fuit inspired by her own grandmother's life as an artist was latertranslated intoEnglish and titled Suzanne. It won the Prix des libraires du Qubecandwas shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for French-language fiction. Her other books include Je Voudrais Qu'on M'efface and Embrasser Yasser Arafat.

• Anas Barbeau-Lavalette on the question she's tired of answering
• Why Anas Barbeau-Lavalette wrote a novel inspired by the grandmother that abandoned her family
• Why Canada Reads author Anas Barbeau-Lavalette is drawn to books about survival and the human spirit

Anas Barbeau-Lavaletteon generating ideas

"Ideas don't come from somewhere. Ideas are created, gradually take shape, get distorted, then reconstruct themselves. An idea is a complex, fascinating process that comes from everywhere and nowhere."

An idea is a complex, fascinating process that comes from everywhere and nowhere.-Anas Barbeau-Lavalette

"I try to understand who I am and where I come from so that I can be my true self. And what I'm trying to pull concerns me alone I'm a secretive person."

Read more inAnasBarbeau-Lavalette's interview with CBC Books.

• Read an excerpt from Suzanne
• Why Yanic Truesdale is championing Suzanne by Anas Barbeau-Lavalette on Canada Reads

Interviews withAnasBarbeau-Lavalette

Anas Barbeau-Lavalette on being fearless when writing about your past

6 years ago

Duration 3:50

In this special Canada Reads 2019 edition of the CBC Books' video series, Barbeau-Lavalette talks about why its important to make your voice heard.

Books by Anas Barbeau-Lavalette