Graphic novel
Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny ,
Christian Quesnel ill.
Translated from French by W. Donald Wilson
A train in the night: The tragedy of Lac-Mégantic
On a summer night in 2013, a runaway train loaded with explosive oil derailed in the small town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. One of the deadliest rail disasters in Canadian history, Lac-Mégantic stands as a haunting narrative of how the powerful profit from collective tragedy.
Who are the real culprits of the disaster that claimed 47 lives? In this vivid, full-colour work of graphic nonfiction, award-winning author Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny and illustrator Christian Quesnel trace the path of the locomotive from the scene of the crime all the way back to cowboy producers of Dakota black gold, Wall Street investors, and politicians in the pocket of the billion-dollar oil and gas industry.
With no national public inquiry launched or meaningful criminal charges laid, the victims of Lac-Mégantic must not become mere statistics, nor the survivors left to the mercy of predatory developers and financial interests. Now the full story of that infamous night and its aftermath live on—and illustrate the true human cost of unfettered capitalism.
Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny
Author, researcher, and activist Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny arrived at the site of the Lac-Mégantic tragedy five days after it occurred. Her book-length piece of investigative journalism, Mégantic: A Deadly Mix of Oil, Rail, and Avarice (Talonbooks, 2020), was in its original French edition the winner of the 2018 prix Pierre-Vadeboncœur, a finalist for the 2018 Governor General’s Literary Awards for Non-Fiction, and listed for the 2019 Prix des libraires. She has been a social and environmental activist in various NGOs for over thirty-five years. She lives in Val-David, Quebec.
Christian Quesnel
He is the author and illustrator of several award-winning comic books, including Cœurs d’Argile, Ludwig, Félix Leclerc: L’alouette en liberté, and Vous avez détruit la beauté du monde, which won the Grand prix de la ville de Québec in 2021. In fall 2008, he became the first comic strip artist to win the Prix à la création artistique from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) for his body of work. He holds a master’s degree in museology and arts practices from the University of Quebec in Outaouais, in Gatineau, where he is currently a doctoral student.
W. Donald Wilson
He was born and educated in Ireland, taking degrees in modern languages and French literature at Trinity College Dublin. He has taught at universities in the West Indies, the UK, and at the University of Waterloo, where he has spent most of his career. He has twice been long-listed for the Best Translated Book Award in the US, and has been a finalist for the French-American Foundation’s translation prize and the Governor General’s Literary Awards. He lives in Baden, Ontario.