Franco-American
-
Merci, Bellechasse
[Francais ci-dessous] When I was growing up in Vermont, I knew of three major points of interest in the province of Québec: Montreal, Quebec City, and Saint-Lazare-de-Bellechasse, and not necessarily in that order. Saint-Lazare was where my grandmother’s parents came from, and at least to me, the seventh of her fourteen grandchildren, her veneration for…
-
A Franco-American Weekend in Bellechasse, Québec
This weekend, the village of Saint-Damien-de-Buckland is hosting a whole day of event celebrating the Franco-American heritage of Bellechasse…or the Bellechassois heritage of Franco-Americans? Both! The day will culminate with the workshop presentation of the new performance project I’ve been working on with my cousin, Valérie Bilodeau, a.k.a. La Culottée. For the past year we’ve…
-
Les filles d’Honorius & Wilfrid: Laboratoire de création
I have been very fortunate during the last year to be engaged in a demanding and uniquely intimate creative process with my friend and distant cousin, Valérie Bilodeau. Like many French-Canadians of their generation, our great-grandfathers were migrant laborers who traveled between Québec and New England in search of work in factories, farms, and forests.…
-
Fall Events
The world feels heavy right now, especially if you’re living in the United States — the weight of violence, fear, and uncertainty as the systems that are supposed to hold things together seem to be cracking in some places and falling away in others. I feel it every day in waves, as though we’re on…
-
Vermont Poutinefest
This weekend Burlington welcomed its first-ever Poutinefest. This celebration of gravy, curds, and fries and Franco-American culture has been going strong in Merrimack, New Hampshire for years. Portland, Maine joined the roster a few years ago, and now it’s finally Vermont’s turn! Our inaugural festival featured nine poutine vendors, maple creemees, hundreds of attendees, and…
-
Samedi à la frontière! | On the Border this Weekend!
Meet me at the Haskell Free Library and Opera House this weekend! I’ll be doing a special borderland book launch event to celebrate Piecework and the cross-border ties that brought the book into being. This special afternoon event will include performances, music, conversation, and celebration in English and French. J’espère vous voir! Rejoignez-moi à la…
-
Know Where You Stand
It’s a tricky time to be a person with their feet in two cultures. If you’re someone who crosses borders frequently, you understand that borders are places of friction, where identity shifts or slips, where we are made vulnerable. This is what is beautiful about borderlands — and also what makes them sites of conflict.…
-
Piecework est arrivée !
I had an unforgettable few days in Orono this weekend, celebrating the launch of my new book at an annual gathering of Franco American artists known as the rassemblement. It’s a fascinating feeling to hold my work in my hands in its new (and beautiful!) form, and it was deeply meaningful to celebrate with friends,…
-
Piecework in Orono this Weekend
I have the great good fortune of heading to Orono, Maine this weekend for the rassemblement, a gathering of Franco American artists, writers, and culture-workers hosted by the Franco American Center of the University of Maine. This annual event provides an invaluable space for us to cultivate Franco culture by sharing our work with one…
-
Pre-Order Your Copy of Piecework
You can pre-order your copy of my new book now! Piecework / Travail à la pièce, a bilingual collection of my two solo plays that explore the Franco American experience and the long, often invisible history of the borderlands between francophone Canada and northern New England. With memorable characters and a variety of voices, these…
ABBY PAIGE 