Ecology and Literature

Staunchly literary and socially engaged for nearly 30 years now, the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival, under the banner of “Ecology & Literature”, brings together a wide variety of initiatives, editorial contents and projects that address, with literature’s help, subjects with strong links to ecology, sustainable development and, more generally, our relationships with the living world.

Sustainable development starts with the principle that the current development model, predicated as it is on economic growth, has shown its limits, and that we must rethink society’s organizational modes for the long-term while ensuring the renewal of resources.

Literature itself is built to last. It’s no stranger to any subject touching human beings. Mobilizing the themes of sustainable development, science, and literature is therefore likely to lay the groundwork to connect scientific disciplines, literary genres, aesthetic sensibilities, and even convictions, perspectives that complement or oppose each other, and debates most nourishing to the mind and sometimes most likely to move the goalposts. Writers, artists, philosophers, historians, researchers, scientists—their words, their work, their interrogations take the stage at Blue Metropolis. This was also a way to enjoy the city’s culinary creativity as well as the riches and cultural vitality of its many neighborhoods.

PLANET, MY LOVE

Planet, My Love…” is an English-language writing contest that gives aspiring writers in Montreal and Greater Montreal the opportunity to write a work of literary fiction inspired by today’s climate issues.

This contest, returning in 2026 for its second edition, showcased emerging, socially engaged literary talents in 2025.

Find out more here!

THE MARITIME SERIES

In 2018, the TD-Blue Metropolis Children’s Festival has presented a series of youth workshops at the libraries of riverside communities on the South Shore of Montreal. Within this context, storytellers well as children’s authors have facilitated creative workshops that mix writing and drawing in order to instill in children an awareness of the world of the Saint-Lawrence in particular and of the nature of Quebec more generally.

Since 2022, the Maritime Series has been enhanced by a visit from a biologist from the Port of Montreal. With photos and supporting materials, he explains to children the initiatives taken to protect the swallows and bats that frequent the riverbanks. Workshops, led by cultural mediator Caroline Barber, follow this visit and allow students to express their views on these animal species through poetry.

FRUITS & VEGETABLES QUIZ

Fruits and vegetables have been a central part of the human diet for centuries. Their importance is such that numerous children’s authors propose engaging and appetizing picture books, not to mention dozens of cookbooks, on these foods. To test your knowledge of oranges, peas and nature’s various other delights, here’s a quiz game for the whole family.

(Only available in French)

WATER, RIVER, SEA QUIZ

Do you and your kids really know this river? What about the oceans? Know a thing or two about maritime trades? About types of boats? Do you know what lives in the river’s waters? Put your knowledge to the test with a little literary and educational quiz. You’ll be amazed at the discoveries that await you!

(Only available in French)

READING IN THE GARDEN – MEET & GREET AMONG THE TREES

Slowness, interiority, mystery, and discovery: Nature and literature share common ground. In 2022, two writers, one from Quebec, one from Wales, have read excerpts from their novels, in tandem with scientific commentary from a Montreal Botanical Garden botanist—an enchanted interlude amid the Garden’s greenery.

Presented in partership with Llenyddiaeth Ar Draws Ffiniau / Literature Across Frontiers and the Montreal Botanical Garden.

WRITING FOR THE OUTDOORS

Initiated in spring 2020 in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Blue Metropolis’ Writing for the Outdoors online platform will take us right through to the next edition of the Festival, in spring 2022, when we will present a series of outdoors literary events so as to take advantage of Greater Montreal’s beautiful parks and natural settings. This will also be a way to enjoy the city’s culinary creativity as well as the riches and cultural vitality of its many neighbourhoods.