2010 Grand Prix
About the Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prix

 Blue Metropolis Foundation is proud to announce that the winner of the 2010 Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prix will be Dany Laferrière, whose most recent books are L' énigme du retour (Boréal, 2009) and Je suis un écrivain japonais, (Boréal, 2008) [I am a Japanese Writer (Douglas & McIntyre), Fall 2010].

The $10,000 award recognizes a lifetime of literary achievement by a writer of international reputation. Laferrière will receive the prize at the 12^th annual Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival, which will take place April 21-25, 2010, at the Delta Centre-Ville Hotel.

"I am thrilled that Montreal author Dany Laferrière has accepted our invitation, and especially delighted that a long-time friend of the Blue Metropolis Festival will be recognized for the great quality, the audacity and wit of his work in several different genres" said Linda Leith, President and Artistic Director of Blue Metropolis Foundation.

About Dany Laferrière
Journalist, TV and radio host, screenwriter, and director, Dany Laferrière worked as a journalist in his native Haiti during the notorious Duvalier regime, immigrating to Canada in 1978 after a colleague was murdered. He settled in Montreal, where he worked at various low-paying jobs while writing his first novel, Comment faire l'amour avec un Nègre sans se fatiguer (1985) [How to Make Love to a Negro, 1987]. A semi-autobiographical account of an impoverished black immigrant and his attraction to white women, the book was a critical and commercial success, and was later made into a feature film and translated into several languages.

The author of sixteen novels, he has won several awards, among them the first Prix Carbet des lycéens 2000 for Le cri des oiseaux fous and the Prix RFO du Livre 2002 for Cette grenade dans la main du jeune nègre est-elle une arme ou un fruit ? [Why Must a Black Writer Write about Sex? 1995]. Laferrière won the 2006 Governor General's Award for Je suis fou de Vava, his first novel for children.

Laferrière's most recent book in English, Heading South [Douglas & McIntyre, 2009], which was made into the award-wining film starring Charlotte Rampling, is a provocative book that explores the line between sexual liberation and exploitation. In Fall 2010 Douglas & McIntyre will publish Laferrière's I am a Japanese Writer , a devilishly intelligent, sensual and hilarious tale of a blocked Montreal writer who one day learns that he is famous in Japan for having written a novel he never wrote.

Having divided his time in recent years between Montreal, New York and Miami, Dany Laferrière considers himself as a citizen of the Americas. It is in this spirit that he writes what he has called his American Autobiography, a big project of a dozen titles which draws a portrait of the Americas, Haiti and Montreal. Dany Laferrière's books have been translated into a dozen languages, including Korean and Polish. His latest novel, L'énigme du retour, has won the Prix Médicis 2009.

About the Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prix 

The Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prix is awarded annually to a writer of international stature and accomplishment as a celebration of a lifetime of literary achievement.  Previous recipients are:

A.S. Byatt, 2009
Daniel Pennac, 2008
Margaret Atwood, 2007
Michel Tremblay, 2006
Carlos Fuentes, 2005
Paul Auster, 2004
Maryse Condé, 2003
Mavis Gallant, 2002
Norman Mailer, 2001
Marie-Claire Blais, 2000

The prize is unusual both in the literary quality of the authors it honours and in the substance of the contributions it recognizes. The jury wishes, with this award, to recognize a lifetime of extraordinary achievement and to present the winner of the award to the reading public of Montreal at the Festival.

The winner is chosen by a jury consisting of members of the Board of Blue Metropolis Foundation who base their deliberations on the recommendation of the Programming Committee of the Festival. The Programming Committee consists of writers, professors, literary journalists, broadcasters, booksellers and readers from francophone and anglophone milieux as well as representatives of other linguistic groups. The criteria are as follows: the winner should be a writer of international stature and achievement in the literary arts with great appeal to the Festival public in one or more of the following ways:

• an ability to speak French and English (and/or another language),
• literary work published in translation in French and English (and perhaps other languages),
• a significant Montreal readership in French and English
• a willingness to meet that Montreal public at a Festival event at which the Prize will be awarded 

Writers proposed to the jury may be of any nationality, including Canadian, they may be of any age, and they may be known for their achievements as writers in one or more of any of the literary arts (e.g. literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, screenwriting, translation, etc.). The award is not linked to any particular publication or production.