Talk: Joy as a Political Force

A Quebec poet, novelist, playwright, and essayist, Louise Dupré has published some thirty works, which have earned her numerous awards and honors. Among her most recent poetry collections are the trilogy *Plus haut que les flammes*, *La main hantée*, and *Exercices de joie* (Le Noroît and Éditions Bruno Doucey), as well as the reissues of *La peau familière* (Éditions du remue-ménage, 2025) and *Une écharde sous ton ongle* (Le Noroît, 2026). Her works have been translated into some fifteen languages. She is a member of the Académie des lettres du Québec and the Parlement des écrivaines francophones.

After studying sociology, Juliette Rousseau worked for the organization Attac and then for other organizations in the anti-globalization movement. She helped organize political events such as the “People’s Summit” in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. In 2014, she became the coordinator and spokesperson for “Coalition Climat 21,” the civil society platform for COP 21 in Paris. After COP 21, she moved to the ZAD in Notre-Dame-des-Landes with a group of friends. She writes for various independent media outlets and magazines such as Basta, Socialter, La Déferlante, Médiapart, Mouvements, and Ballast. She currently works for Éditions du Commun, where she directs the poetry collection. She coordinates and edits anthologies such as *Voici mon cœur, brise-le avec un marteau* (2024). A writer committed to left-wing causes, she lives south of Rennes.

Author, playwright, and performer Raïssa Yowali was born in Brussels to parents who are both Congolese. She is the eldest child in her family. In 2024, she published a self-published collection titled *D’aussi longtemps que je me souvienne, je me suis pensée au masculin pour embrasser les filles* (For as long as I can remember, I’ve thought of myself as male in order to kiss girls), for which she received the Jury Prize and the Audience Choice Award at the Fintro Prizes for Francophone Literature. She has also contributed to several anthologies, including *En Lettres noires* (published by Midis de la poésie) and *(Grands)-mères en Lumière* (published by maelstrÖm). In 2025, she won the Prix Paroles Urbaines and also received the Audience Award in the same competition. Her new collection, *Les Mille soleils de Busu Jano*, was published by L’Arbre de Diane in January 2026. Her performance *SMOGGG* is currently in production. She also works as a cultural journalist and contributes occasionally to various film and performing arts magazines.

I’ve always been immersed in literature, for as long as I can remember. In my childhood home, money was often tight, but there was always enough for a book, as if my parents had understood—before I did—that words would be a treasure that could never be taken away from me. That conviction has never left me. After initially pursuing a career in fashion design, I turned to teaching—and more specifically, to special education, where I still work today. It’s a profession that has taught me, day after day, that sharing knowledge is as much a political act as it is an educational one. For politics, precisely, permeates every aspect of my life: in my activist work, in my teaching style, and in my life as a mother. I don’t view these spheres as separate; they feed into one another and drive me to act, to question, and to resist wherever possible. It was from this conviction that my literary Instagram account was born: because knowledge is power, I share readings and recommendations focused on sociology, feminism, anarchism, anti-capitalism, class struggle, anti-racism, decolonization, and anti-fascism. It’s a way for me, in my own way, to continue sharing knowledge and empowering those who, like me, are searching for the words to understand and transform the world.