We recently learned that Angèle Delaunois received the Fleury-Mesplet Prize shortly after it was announced that Éditions de l’Isatis, of which she is the founder, had been sold to Écosociété Editions. What luck!
The board of the Montreal Book Fair wanted to honor author and publisher Angèle Delaunois with the Fleury-Mesplet Prize for all her contributions to Quebec’s literary diversity. Originally a French and visual arts teacher, Angèle Delaunois was head of collections at Héritage and publisher at Pierre Tisseyre before founding Éditions de l’Isatis in 2003. She is also the author of more than a hundred books, notably Mémoire d’une peleur, Les enfants de l’eau, Les livres de Madame Sacoche and Le grand voyage de monsieur Caca. In 1998 she won the Governor General’s Award for her novel Variations sur un even t’aime. Although she didn’t win it, she was nominated for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Prize in 2021.
With passion and conviction, Angèle Delaunois has managed over the years to build a catalog that is as solid and relevant at Éditions de l’Isatis, without being afraid to shake up preconceptions by offering young people books that deal with the subject with the environment, feminism or other social issues. We remember “Why do girls have stomach aches?”, “The weight of breasts”, “Money and me”, “Plastic pollution” or “The city with elephant back”. Of course, the publisher is also capable of humor and beauty, such as the “Clin d’œil” collection.
In addition to the awarding of the Fleury-Mesplet Prize, Angèle Delaunois also caused a surprise in recent days with the announcement that Éditions de l’Isatis is joining the Écosociété editions. In fact, Écosociété has signed an agreement to acquire it. If Ms. Delaunois remains editor for a while longer, she will gradually hand over to Élodie Comtois and Kevin Cordeau of Écosociété, who are excited to add a youth catalog to their new collection of essays for young people that has been so well received by them. The publishing house Écosociété, founded in 1992, publishes ecological and social essays to “cultivate knowledge, open up possibilities,” as the publisher’s motto so aptly puts it. A happy fusion then, these two sister editions coming together in the same family and, we have no doubt, still have a lot to offer!