Christiane Vadnais from Quebec City, Canada will be the writer-in-residence in Tartu this spring

In April and May, Tartu UNESCO City of Literature will host the Canadian writer and literary programmer Christiane Vadnais as the Tartu International Writers Residency Program guest.  
 
Christiane Vadnais holds a Master's in Creative Writing from Laval University (Québec, Canada). She writes fiction and works in the literary world as an event programmer and producer of innovative reading experiences. She has published one novel and several short stories and collaborates on numerous transdisciplinary projects. Her literary work has been translated into six languages and she has won several awards.

Since 2017 she has been writing ecofiction mainly exploring possible futures. Her debut book, “Faunes” (“Fauna”, English translation published in 2020 by Coach House Books) is a constellation of dreamlike stories where the boundaries between humanity and animality blur until new balances are established. From 2020 to 2022, she took part in the creation of a vast collective utopia, “L'île inventée” (“The Invented Island”): in the form of a book, a museum exhibition and a podcast presented in Québec and France, this project imagines the construction of a society of humans and plants on a small island in the South Atlantic, during an alternative 19th century. Vadnais herself characterises her creative work as follows: “Navigating between science fiction, magic realism and poetic writing about the intimate and the body, her work seeks to lift literature out of anthropocentrism and question the existence of living beings in an era of upheaval.” In Tartu she plans to work on her second novel, get engaged in the local literary scene, and strengthen the ties between Tartu and Quebec as two sister Cities of Literature in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Among other activities, she will participate in Tartu International Literary Festival Prima Vista 2024: “Futures Better and Worse”.

The open call, announced in February, bought 30 applications from writers and translators from Europe, North America, South America as well as Africa. The decision was made by a four-member commission, consisting of Berk Vaher (Estonian Writers' Union), Krista Ojasaar (Estonian Literary Museum), Janika Kronberg (Karl Ristikivi Society), and Marja Unt (Estonian Literature Society).

Tartu City of Literature international residency program, which is intended for writers and translators of Estonian literature into other languages, began in 2017. Each residency period lasts for two months, and the competition is announced twice a year. The residency is one of the largest globally-oriented initiatives in Tartu's UNESCO City of Literature action plan, which helps to broaden the international dimension of the local literary scene, create new cultural ties, and provide residents with the opportunity to draw inspiration from the local environment and culture. Huseinova is the sixth guest in the program, following Slovenian writer Andrej Tomažin, Irish writer and cultural critic Darran Anderson, Hungarian writer Gabi Csutak, American poet Ron Whitehead, English writer Andy Willoughby and Ukrainian writer Olena Huseinova. 

Photo by Stéphane Bourgeois

Additional information about the residency program:
Estonian Literary Society
eks@kirjandus.ee
Tel.: 7427079
Tartu.kirjandus.ee