Led by the organization Crime Writers of Canada, the annual awards were founded in 1984. Formerly known as the Arthur Ellis Prize, they recognize crime fiction and non-fiction by authors of Canadian origin, residing in Canada or abroad.
In a press release, Alire editions congratulate “ warm regards Patrick Senécal, who has just won the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for the best book in French (formerly known as the Arthur-Ellis Prize) for his novel Floods”.
Patrick Senécal succeeds this year the author Roxanne Bouchard who won the 2021 prize in the category dedicated to French-speaking authors for The Coral Bride published by Libre Expression.
The summary of Flows:
Florence, eight years old, is alone at home when she is found in the family apartment, above a grocery store. No one can trace her parents and she refuses to say anything. Quietly, the truth emerges through her personal diary, where she confides her thoughts and observations on daily life.
In appearance, Florence is a little girl like the others. She has friends with whom she plays a lot. She takes piano lessons, she interprets Beethoven’s Ode to Joy on the piano. She has no toys. She doesn’t like to take care of it. When his mom and dad quarrel, it exasperates him. So she sings Katy Perry in broken English. Baaaabiyouhahfaaaillouhwah.
And she writes in her diary, which gradually teaches us the reality of Flo, which is in fact… terrifying.
Patrick Senécal is a Quebec screenwriter, director, playwright and writer. Fascinated by all artistic forms implementing suspense, fantasy and terror, he is the author of several bestsellers which conquered the general public as soon as they were released. He is a master of horror in his own right. Twenty novels with more than a million copies sold, three film adaptations, one in comics, a TV series…
Find the list of French and Francophone literary prizes