It was such a treat to welcome Librairie Drawn & Quarterly alum Fiona Alison Duncan for the launch of her debut novel Exquisite Mariposa with the help of local author Ariela Freedman, and Montreal artist Alix Van Der Donckt-Ferrand!

In a similar spirit to Fiona's work with Hard to Read, Fiona read alongside fellow creators on the theme of the cocoon. 

Ariela sets the scene in a late-90's New York City.

"Fiona - not this fiona in the room! I forgot I had a fiona in my book..."
"It took a while to learn how to wear them, it took a while to learn to be a woman, not a girl."
"She seemed to take for granted that the world would move her…"

Expanding on the theme of the evening, we moved through ideas of transformation and metamorphosis.

Alix carries on with a reading from her trilingual poem:
"Dos personas sentadas a ambos lados de una puerta abierta
I'm both :)
...et moi j'inspire et j'expire comme le grillon
...don't put legs on a snake
(I love failed attempts)"

Find more of her work here, and more of her music here!

Fiona caps the evening...
"The book began as nonfiction; I learned to write fiction on the way."

Who would have thought of fictionalization as legal protection? Damn. "Editing is a blessing. Everyone should edit their lives."

Zodiac and television come together in the organisation of her 12 chapters - 12 signs - 12 episodes in a season. "The only way I could finish the book was to impose a kind of structure."

"People are my favorite medium."