Meet the Finalists: Lambda Foundation Emerging 2SLGBTQIA+ Francophone Writer Award

Lambda Scholarship Foundation Canada and Fierté littéraire are proud to present the inaugural Lambda Foundation Emerging 2SLGBTQ+ Francophone Writer Award.

This $5,000 annual prize celebrates literary excellence and the early-career queer Francophone voices shaping the future of Canadian literature.

This year’s four finalists are Rowan Mercille, Laura Doyle Péan, Maryse Andraos, and Laurence Caron-Castonguay.

Rowan Mercille, Bébé braillard (The Screaming Baby)

Rowan Mercille is a multidisciplinary artist based in Montréal. Initially drawn to theatre, they later turned to dance, graduating from the École de Danse Contemporaine de Montréal in 2017. Their career has included collaborations with Martin Messier, Caroline Laurin-Beaucage, Owen Pallett, and Céline Dion, among others. In recent years, Rowan has concentrated on writing and music, publishing the poetry collection Des Fleurs qui n’ont pas de nom (2022) and the auto-fictional narrative Bébé Braillard (2025), both with Hurlantes Éditrices.

Laura Doyle Péan, Cheer

Laura Doyle Péan is a multidisciplinary artist, poet, and queer activist of Haitian-Quebecois descent who explores the role of art in social movements. Their latest poetry collection, Cheer, is available at your favourite independent bookstore — and they playfully suggest stealing it from Indigo or Renaud Bray.

Maryse Andraos, Tombée de la nuit (Nightfall)

Maryse Andraos has published two novels: Tombée de la nuit (2025) and Sans refuge (2021). Her writing explores themes of identity, healing, love, and friendship in dialogue between subjectivity and community. She recently contributed to the collection Tantôt aimer, tantôt détruire (2025) on violence in LGBT relationships, and has published in journals including Liberté and Moebius, where she was writer-in-residence in 2023. Her short texts, at the intersection of the personal and the political, have been recognized with literary awards from SODEP and Radio-Canada.

Laurence Caron-Castonguay, Portraits de Laurent (Portraits of Laurent)

Laurence Caron-Castonguay conceives of their existence as a daily artistic performance, leaving shockwaves wherever they go. A transdisciplinary artist in search of knowledge, they have explored diverse disciplines including visual arts, tattooing, graphic design, pedagogy, and the integration of digital communication technologies in education, teaching micro-publishing, hypermedia, visual arts, mathematics, and science to young people from diverse backgrounds across Québec. Their transness shapes their artistic practice — they are drawn to questions of identity, its loss or invalidation, and to phenomena of social invisibility. Extended time spent in Indigenous communities has led them to explore the connections between identity and traditional culture, examining the visual and symbolic representation of the person behind what can be seen.

Event Details

The winner will be announced live on Friday, July 31, from 5 to 7 pm at Place du Village during Fierté Montréal. The evening will be hosted by drag queen Jessie Précieuse — the first drag queen in the world to present the weather forecast on national television.

Darren Stehle, Lambda’s Director of Development, will be at Place du Village on July 31 to deliver remarks on behalf of Lambda Foundation and present the $5,000 award to this year’s recipient. We hope to see you there.