My Québecois friend Jean François Tessier (whom I met in Reykjavik and hung out with in Paris) has recommended a few books for me for when I finally get to his homeland. (I don't think he's secessionist, but I figure that French Canadian lit is radically different from English Canadian stuff.)
Here's a top 5 list of worthwhile authors from Québec. As far as I know, their work has been translated into English.
1. Michel Tremblay. Playwright and novelist. Best known.
2. Hubert Aquin. Novelist. Try to find "Prochain Episode".
3. Dany Laferrière. Québec-based Haitian novelist. "Comment faire l'amour avec un nègre sans se fatiguer".
4. Anne Hébert. Poetess and novelist. Look for "Kamouraska".
5. Gaston Miron. Poet. Miron described our condition as a people the best. His major work is called "L'homme rapaillé".
I feel bad though because litterature is the ONE thing in this country over which it is completely unfair to get all nationalist and flag-waving. English-Canada in my opinion has a top top top quality litterature. Anything published by "The New Canadian Library" is worthwhile.
http://www.mcclelland.com/NCL/index.html
So, even though politics has no place on your blog, my advice to you is to simply treat Québec as a country on its own and read a book from each place.
:) Hope it helps. Keep it up, it's a great project and you do it really well.
I'm actually reading Laferrière for Haiti, cos I got to meet him at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival. He actually gave me a book, 'cos I was the one of the few guys at the party who could speak broken French to him while he was still jetlagged. Nice.
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