Knowlton Literary Festival
Montreal is Noir; so also are Baghdad, Belfast, and Buffalo. And, believe it or not, Cape Cod. The recently published anthology of noir fiction, “Montreal Noir” (Akachic 2017) is part of a series of anthologies now totaling nearly 100, which covers cities from Atlanta to Zagreb. On October 13, Noir comes to the Knowlton Literary Festival with a panel discussion on this popular literary genre.
Noir fiction is a variety of hard-boiled crime writing practically always set in a grim urban environment and featuring characters inhabiting the shadowy underside of society. According to Jacques Filippi, editor of the Montreal collection, noir is “unsettling, subversive and palpable, but never obvious.” There is mystery and unease at the core of much noir fiction, in the case of one of the oldest cities in North America, as Fillipi points out in his introduction, “history has been dominated by cultures, coming together, almost. And cultures coming apart, almost. But always continuing.” The constant flux has been a source of inspiration for writers of dark stories.
“Montreal Noir” is divided into narratives set in various neighbourhoods of the city, from N.D.G. to Hochelaga and from St. Henri to Plateau Mont-royal. It features work in English as well as work translated from the French.
Anthology editor Filippi will introduce three writers from the collection: Johanne Seymour (the Kate Macdougall novels), Peter Kirby (the Inspector Luc Vanier series) and Catherine Mackenzie (“Fractured” and “The Murder Game”).they will address questions about the nature and appeal of noir writing as well as its reputation as a global literary phenomenon.
Tickets for the event, which starts at 2:45 in the Lac-brome Community Centre (270 Victoria in Knowlton), are $15 and may be purchased at the door or at Brome Lake Books, 45 Lakeside in Knowlton.