There’s the one, as Catherine Major sings, “that travels the paths / like Bohemians live / that stumbles in the morning / in a poem / the sun makes it shimmer / like porcelain / it bursts out laughing / the human voice.” There’s the one that counts, in the ballot box or in power. There’s the one you have to assume to get it “over with.” Those that persist even when we want them to be quiet. And the one that emerges from the breath of artists, like a tiny flame that ignites others in its path. To illustrate the full potential of the voice, here are five echoes that make it felt without making it hoarse.
BOOKS
Gaza écrit Gaza, collective under the direction of Refaat Alareer (Mémoire d’encrier, 2025)
By the time you read these lines, it is difficult to imagine what will come of the ceasefire in Gaza, after two years of genocide against the Palestinian people. Because the powerlessness was immense and it’s essential to hear the voices of a troubled youth, it’s important to remember and not to forget—since these are not the same thing. Under the impetus of the late professor and poet Refaat Alareer, Palestinian youths, identified for speaking out on social media or blogs, were invited to turn to writing fiction in order to bear witness to the war, the occupation, and the resistance. Published in English in 2014 under the title Gaza Writes Back, the anthology was translated for the first time into French by 25 Francophone authors supported, among other figures, by Yara El-Ghadban, a Montreal-based publisher of Palestinian origin. In these overpowering testimonials of a humanity with incandescent resilience, the scars of the body awaken like History, the Wall is erected and the tunnel is dug, the uprooting of people unfolds like that of 189 olive trees, and toothache is endured like homesickness. An essential memory book.
Entends-tu? Un essai sur le silence, by Vincent Fortier (Del Busso Éditeur, 2024)
For the voice to awaken, there must be silence. But the latter “is not superior to speech; it does not have to take its place. One and the other coexist.” Writer Vincent Fortier, obsessed with an introverted character he was trying to put down on paper, became so engrossed in this subject that he abandoned his novel in favour of writing an essay. Drawing on numerous works on the subject, discussions with his loved ones, and the marrow of several personal experiences, the author identifies the multitude of possibilities of silence in short texts. In a style which is sometimes introspective or analytical, sometimes confessional or graphically alive, the silent contrasts of loneliness and community, city and nature, trauma and care, celebration and boredom, and art and love are gently dissected. This meditative brew is savoured in tiny sips and invites us to “reflect on what silence allows us to make heard,” within ourselves and around us. And that’s already plenty.
PODCAST
Décrochage politique (Les radios à roulettes, 2025)
A distinguished journalist who has long covered the political scene, Jocelyne Richer published Le sexe du pouvoir. Politique au féminin : Élues et ex-élues brisent le silence (Éditions La Presse) in 2024; and former candidate Élisabeth Labelle emerged in 2025 with the essay Quand la politique fait fuir les femmes : Un système à réinventer (Québec Amérique). Following in the same footsteps, but delving deeper into the individual journeys of six retired female politicians, the Décrochage politique podcast lends the microphone to those who have too often been put in a box or confined by gender stereotypes. The new host of the Première heure morning show on Radio-Canada Québec, Alexandre Duval addresses several sensitive issues head-on with them, from burnout (Isabelle Lessard, who was the youngest mayor in Quebec) to internal party crises (Catherine Dorion and Émilise Lessard-Therrien), as well as media turmoil (Marie-Chantal Chassé). Not to mention the tenacity of the eloquent Liza Frulla and Agnès Maltais, who have seen it all… and voted, and debated! An illuminating offering in five episodes available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
MUSIC
Lou-Adriane Cassidy (Journal d’un loup-garou, 2025; Triste animal, 2025)
If there’s one unique and textured voice to lend your ear to in recent Quebec music, it’s the performer of “Dis-moi dis-moi dis-moi,” that haunting tune which, from the very beginning, already tells a thousand stories: “At the movies raising your eyes / for the first time…” After the success of the collective project Le Roy, la Rose et le Lou[p], which she engaged in with her long-time accomplices Ariane Roy and Thierry Larose, Lou-Adriane Cassidy had nothing short of a brilliant year last year, earning a nomination for the prestigious pan-Canadian Polaris Prize and dominating the competition at the recent ADISQ gala with 12 wins out of 13 nominations. Less than four months apart, she released the daring and atmospheric Journal d’un loup-garou, then the surprise album Triste animal, which soars eclectically through “her strength to say no, her effort to say yes.” And believe me: you have to see her perform live to truly appreciate the vastness of her inner world and her constant quest to sing with her entire being.
TELEVISION
Florence Longpré (Empathie, 2025)
From Mémoires vives to Pays d’en haut, as well as her famous Gaby Gravel in Like-moi and Vitrerie Joyal, Martin Matte’s new series expected in 2026, Florence Longpré is celebrating 15 years as an actress this year. But it’s her talent as a screenwriter that has been lavishly praised of late, as her first solo-written series, Empathie, has been breaking records on the Crave platform since its debut in the spring after winning the Grand prix du public at the French festival Séries Mania. Set in the psychiatric wing of a hospital, the story follows a former criminologist (Longpré herself) who, marked by the blows of fate, leaves the police force for psychiatry. Her colleagues and patients exude the rich complexity of the human soul, and everything needed to understand and treat it, which leads to an amazing game. The title of the series alone condenses Longpré’s writing approach (M’entends-tu?, Audrey est revenue, Le temps des framboises): may this feeling of uniqueness emerge and take root in each of us—a feeling which, paradoxically, reminds us of the Other.
