Stéphanie Dugas
Categories: Female Authors - Francophone Authors - Authors of Juvenile Fiction; - Novelists - Authors of Young Adult Literature - Acadian Coast - Southeast
Source: Author / auteure
Biography
Writer, full-time dreamer, long-time photographer, and “geekette” by birth, Stéphanie Dugas is an artist with a passion for imaginary worlds. Originally from Paquetville, Stéphanie, who is 30, has been writing stories since the age of 6. In 2012, she obtained a bachelor’s degree with a major in literary studies, followed by a master’s degree in the same field. She is now making a career in publishing, at Éditions de la Francophonie, where she is a manuscript analyst, proofreader, editor, and literary mentor. She sometimes lends her pen to authors to help them rewrite their manuscripts or put words to stories they are having trouble writing. She published volumes of her saga Un lourd fardeau in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2020, followed by a reprint of her first volume in 2019. In 2016, Stéphanie also self-published as co-author, À la recherche du bonheur, the two volumes of a semi-biographical novel originally written by her grandmother Dugas, fulfilling the life’s dream of this woman with Alzheimer’s disease. Since 2015, this young author has already sold more than a thousand novels.
How has New Brunswick influenced your work?
My books are inspired by my province and my village but also by my family, my genealogy, and my ancestral roots. I am extremely proud of my culture, and I love to bring it even more to life through my novels. Colouring my Acadie through the flavour of my words.
What do you consider to be the highlight of your career so far?
Since the age of six, I have been contemplating a dream that was passed on to me by my paternal grandmother, to be a writer. She taught me the power of words, but above all, that having a fertile imagination is a gift, not a millstone tied around my neck. For the little girl that I was, in addition to being an only child, having an imagination was not always easy: I was "different" and I didn’t see things "normally." My grandmother taught me to put words down on paper to empty my head and enable me to dream without limits, alone, just between me and my notebook.
The years went by, and unfortunately I saw this dear woman whom I so admired cut off from her dream: the editors said that her knowledge of French was inadequate to submit acceptable manuscripts. She had not finished Grade 5, because she had to quit school at that time to look after her large family and help her mother, who had many pregnancies. It hurts to see someone give up. Seeing my grandmother get her heart broken was unbearable. However, in June 2016 an unforgettable event touched my soul forever. In 2013, I decided to rewrite her novels and self-publish them.
On June 5, 2016, her whole family gathered together at her place for the launch – an intimate launch. Surrounded by all her brothers and sisters, her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, she was fulfilling her greatest dream. The race against time was over. Rosilda Dugas was now a published author and she understood; she realized it. Today, in 2020, as a result of her dreams, which enabled me to go my own way, I am privileged to work for Éditions de la Francophonie. Every day, I have the chance to help authors fulfill their dreams. I have valuable encounters. I learn every day. I am involved in the dreams of these people, who need my pen, and through them, a part of my grandmother lives on. Thanks to her, I have the most wonderful job in the world: making dreams come true and immortalizing in our culture fragments of people’s souls and lives.
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Featured Publication |
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L'héritage (2015) |
Excerpt: Imaginez-vous, un instant, que tout ce que vous avez toujours connu n'était qu'une illusion. Les gens que vous côtoyez régulièrement, ainsi que votre vie, ne sont en fait que le reflet de ce qu'est véritablement votre réalité. C'est ce qu'a vécu Haley, la protagoniste de ce roman, en découvrant le terrible secret qui accable sa famille depuis plus de mille ans. Un secret qu'elle découvrira d'une façon atroce. Elle se verra, malgré elle, plongée dans un voyage éprouvant autant émotionnellement que physiquement. Âgée de dix-huit ans, voilà qu'elle renaît dans un univers magique, bouleversant et dangereux. Sa survie dépendra de ses choix ainsi que de sa force de caractère. Acceptera-t-elle ce secret, mais surtout, qu'en fera-t-elle? Ouvrez ces pages et suivez-la dans un voyage cahoteux, à la fois drôle et déchirant. |
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Find this author in the New Brunswick public libraries catalogue.
Source(s): Author.
