Jerome J. Bourgault's Blog

If you’re in downtown Toronto this weekend, The Word of the Street’s 36th annual festival will be taking place at David Pecaut Square, 215 King Street West next to Roy Thomson Hall. While you’re there, be sure to drop by the Tellwell Publishing booth: you’ll see a familiar old face.

Word on the Street will run Saturday September 27, from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and Sunday September 28, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Complete festival programming is available at https://toronto.thewordonthestreet.c...

Welcome back, cherished readers!

It’s been a long time since I’ve shared anything in this space. Spring sort of came and went as I busied myself with entering Day of Epiphany in a number of award competitions, trying to drum up reviews, and beginning my 3rd novel (more on that in a later post), in addition to a whole lot of non-writing endeavours and obligations.

I thought I had reason to be optimistic: The Perpetual Now did fairly well, and I was entering what I believed was a superior ...

On the heels of their 4.7-out-of-5 rating and review of Day of Epiphany, IndieReader has just published an interview with yours truly on their blog. This feature, which they call their “All About the Book and Author” feature, is an honour they only bestow upon their (ahem) most highly-rated books.

Their questions were interesting and really forced me to think about why I do what I do, what my process is, my influences, and so on. For those who attended the double book launch back in December,...

Looks like I’ve got a bit of a critical hit on my hands, if early reviews are any indication.

On the heels of The Prairie Book Reviews highly complimentary appraisal of Day of Epiphany in December, two more reviews have surfaced just in the past week that are putting wind in my sails.

On January 27th, @CANREADS published a five-star review that is not only deeply flattering, but more importantly indicated that the reviewer fully grasped the fundamental point behind the novel. In short, the...

A new review of Day of Epiphany, from The Prairies Book Review

“A triumph…

Set against Québec’s Grande Noirceur—the Great Darkness, Bourgault’s latest novel is a haunting exploration of institutional corruption and systemic abuse through the lens of the Duplessis Orphans scandal. Sister Cassandra Lalonde, reclassified from teacher to nurse, watches helplessly as her students are falsely labeled psychiatric patients and subjected to horrific abuse. Alone against the Catholic Church, Dupless...

A memorable evening last night at The Epochal Imp in Toronto, which saw the launch of both The Perpetual Now and Day of Epiphany. Within the warm confines of this eclectic café on the Danforth, all decked out for the season, an enthusiastic and attentive crowd watched on as I was interviewed and provided readings from both novels, which was followed by book signings and a good deal of healthy schmooze.

My deepest ...

SAVE THE DATE!

If you’re in the Toronto area on Tuesday, December 3rd, Day of Epiphany will be getting its official launch at The Epochal Imp, 123 Danforth Ave, Toronto, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. And because my first novel was a Covid baby and never got a proper coming-out party of its own, I will also be “launching” The Perpetual Now at the same time! Both books will available for purchase and (of course) autographing. Plus, there will be readings from both novels, a live interview with the auth...

Well, it’s finally happened! Exactly 4 years and 2 days since I started on this latest adventure, Day of Epiphany is now officially published and available at the FriesenPress Bookstore. Cue hfireworks!

As I mentioned in a few social media postings today, a lot is going to happen in the coming weeks and months, and I will be keeping you dutifully informed about readings and signings and (hopefully) a launch. The first such event will be...

A unique aspect of Day of Epiphany, which I never had to consider before, was the temporal and cultural distance between myself and the characters I was writing for. This is an English language novel intended for an English speaking audience, but it’s set in 1950s Québec. Unless specifically indicated (three or four scenes in particular) the characters would of course be speaking to one another in French throughout the novel. How to deal with that? Do I address the question at all? The best ...