Literary world gathers at Blue Metropolis
Authors and lovers of literature from the world over are gathering in Montréal for the star-studded 27th edition of the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival from April 24 to 27.
Literary stars
The 2025 edition of Blue Met presents more than 160 authors and artists from Québec, Canada and around the world in 120 events, in eight languages. One of the largest multilingual literary events in North America, Blue Met presents thought-provoking interviews, award ceremonies, public readings, cocktail evenings, performances, round-table discussions, book signings, live music, workshops and a wealth of online events (new online programming starts April 14). The theme of this year’s festival is “Time, the Tree, the Page” (Le Temps, l’Arbre, la page).
The festival continues to program new and favourite series: Literature and Indigenous Voices, Peace and War; Queer Voices, Almemar (Jewish literature and culture); Women and Words; Ecology and Literature; Azul (Spanish and Portuguese), Bold and Creative; esteemed Literary Prizes awarded to notable foreign and Canadian authors; and the TD-Blue Metropolis Children’s Festival which presents family-friendly programming in the Maisons de la culture and libraries of Greater Montréal.
This year’s Blue Metropolis Foundation fundraising evening is The Word for a Laugh (April 24 at the Hôtel 10). The festival kicks off with the Blue Met Talks opening-ceremony cocktail featuring 11 top-tier festival participants (April 25 at the Hôtel 10).
All-Star edition
Interviews with Salman Rushdie (April 26), Madeleine Thien (April 25), and Claire Messud (April 27) will be conducted by legendary broadcaster and revered author interviewer Eleanor Wachtel as part of the prestigious Eleanor Wachtel Blue Metropolis Series.
The festival’s Literature and Indigenous Voices program welcomes poets Liliana Ancalao (Patagonia, Mapuche, Mapuzung), Joséphine Bacon (nutshimit/Québec, Innu), Fiorella Boucher (Uruguay/Québec, Guarani); essayist Niigaan Sinclair (Winnipeg/Little Peguis, Anishinaabe), Inuit literature specialist Nelly Duvicq (Nunavik) and novelist Coltrane Seesequasis (Gatineau, Willow Cree).
Seesequasis, who reimagines the fantasy genre from an Indigenous perspective, is taking part in the Romance, Fantasy and Other Imaginary series, along with Canadian novelist Pascale Lacelle and Franco-Quebec novelist Nell Pfeiffer.
Winner of the 2024 Giller Prize for Held, internationally-celebrated Canadian poet and novelist Anne Michaels will discuss the joys of translation with her translator Dominique Fortier, as well as with novelist Kev Lambert and his translator Donald Winkler (April 26 at the Hôtel 10). Michaels will also participate in a discussion with American poet, visual artist and photographer Rachel Eliza Griffiths on the special quality of time as seen from the point of view of art (April 26 at the Hôtel 10).
Other notable festival attendees include Zibby Owens (USA), Davide Longo (Italy), Julia Malye (France), David Chariandy (Canada), Michael Prazan (France), Mateo García Elizondo (Mexico), François Kersaudy (France), Felipe Restrepo Pombo (Colombia), Juana Libedinsky (Argentina), and Moustafa Bayoumi (USA).
Among the many festival highlights is the Introducing: Mateo García Elizondo in Translation panel with host Ingrid Bejerman, featuring the young Mexican writer Mateo García Elizondo – grandson of Colombian icon Gabriel García Márquez and Mexican literary giant Salvador Elizondo – making his highly-anticipated Blue Met début (April 25).
Literary prizes
Salman Rushdie will receive the Blue Metropolis 2025 International Literary Grand Prix (April 26); British historian, novelist and essayist Simon Sebag Montefiore will receive the Blue Metropolis Words to Change Prize (April 26); German author Peter Wohlleben will receive the Blue Metropolis Planet Literature Prize (April 26); and American author Stephen Graham Jones of the Pikunis (Blackfoot) Nation will receive the inaugural international edition of the First Peoples' Prize (April 27).
The Blue Metropolis Violet Prize, given to a leading figure in Canadian queer literature for lifetime achievement, will be awarded to France Daigle, one of the most singular voices in Acadia and the French-speaking world (April 26); the Premio Metropolis Azul will be awarded to renowned Mexican novelist, translator and critic Cristina Rivera Garza for her body of work (April 26); and the winner of the Blue Metropolis/Conseil des arts de Montréal New Contribution Prize is Stephie Mazunya (April 26).
The Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival runs April 24 to 27 at the Hôtel 10. For full programming, visit bluemetropolis.org/2025festival.
Richard Burnett
Richard “Bugs” Burnett is a Canadian freelance writer, editor, journalist, blogger and columnist for alt-weeklies, mainstream and LGBTQ+ publications. Bugs also knows Montréal like a drag queen knows a cosmetics counter.