Born in 1983, Mélissa Verreault is a novelist, short story writer, poet, literary translator, instructor in creative writing at Laval University, host of literary events and a mother of triplets. Her literary works include the novels Voyage léger (finalist for the Prix France-Québec 2012) and L’angoisse du poisson rouge (finalist for the Prix des libraires 2015). She has also translated several English novels into French, among them Partie de chasse au petit gibier entre lâches au club de tir du coin (Megan Gail Coles), which won the 2022 Governor General’s Award for Translation. Her upcoming novel, La nébuleuse de la Tarentule, will be published by XYZ in winter 2024.

Photo: Alma Kismic

Maxime Plamondon is a storyteller, writer and comedian. He has presented in multiple venues in Quebec and Europe and is the recipient of a Prix du patrimoine (2013). His first novel, Les oiseaux des temps présents, was published by Tête première in 2021. He is a graduate of Laval Université in Creative Writing.

Photo: Maryse Boyce

Born in 1988 in Montreal to a Columbian father and Canadian mother, Mali Navia holds a diploma in Communications from Concordia University and a Masters degree in Creative Writing from l’Université du Québec à Montréal. She works as a researcher for various television and radio programs in addition to writing for media outlets such as URBANIA and Elle Québec. Her first novel, La banalité d'un tir (Leméac, 2022), was a finalist for the 2023 Prix des libraires.

Photo: Julie Artacho

Paul de Tourreil is a playwright (award-winning), biologist (non-practising), kung fu teacher (retired), Fringe Festival veteran, budding storyteller, and proud Montrealer .

Paul produced his first play at the 1995 Fringe Theatre Festival. He returned to the Fringe in 2009, to write and produce two plays, Amazone: a (very violent) love story, an action-adventure fairytale which played to sell-out crowds, and the French-language Vérité et Conséquences: un spectacle solo (avec ninjas), which won the Chapters/Indigo Best Text Award.

His first storytelling show, 9 Lives, 8 Near-Misses : life lessons from near-death events premiered at the 2023 Montreal Fringe Festival, played to sold-out crowds, was nominated for the Just For Laughs Outstanding Comedy Award.

An artist of Haitian origin born in Montreal, Naïka Joseph earned a Bachelor’s degree in Special Education in 2006 and has worked in the Education field ever since. Producer and choreographer of many shows featuring adolescents, Naïka is the founder of the artistic and educational center Créativement Kiki in Laval, a space dedicated to the artistic expression and learning of young people.

Photo: Janie Joseph

Born in France, Thomas Mundinger has been living in Quebec since 2010. In 2011, he presented his first creation, Katerine C, a work that combines photography, video, and performance. Thomas graduated from the École Supérieure de Théâtre de l'UQAM in 2017 and is also a dancer, notably in Nos Corps, a show produced by Castel Blast at the Théâtre aux Écuries in 2019. The same year, he founded the collective Primitif Météore with whom he assembled Le bureau de l'échec, an installation piece for the Festival des Arts de Ruelles (Festival FAR). During the pandemic, he lived in Nantes, where he worked on writing and directing his first play, a solo theatre piece called Entre la vie et la mort, il y a Britney.

Photo: Maryse Boyce