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Meet the author behind the explosive Andy’s Gone—Marie-Claude Verdier! (And if you’d like to meet the translator Alexis Diamond, go here!)

Describe yourself in one sentence.
Trying to create magic with space, time, words, and people.

Tell us a little bit about your new book.
It’s a retelling of the classic Antigone, made to be listened to both on headphones and live, and to be performed in either a classroom, an underground parking, a cloister, or… anywhere really.

What’s something unique about you or something you like to do?
Currently, my favourite thing is having disco dance parties with my eighteen-month-old daughter. 

What is something that you enjoy doing, and why?
Sounds unoriginal, but I really enjoy writing. A writer’s time is often occupied by lots of administrative or unrelated tasks to actually writing. And workshops with actors. It is so wonderful to hear familiar words read by someone and discovering them anew. 

What are some of your favourite plays?
Pascal Brullemans’s Amaryllis, translated by the wonderful Alexis Diamond. David Paquet, Daniel David Moses, Evelyne de la Chenelière. Annick Lefebvre’s J’accuse, Rébecca Déraspe’s I Am William, and loads more. There are so many talented playwrights.

What are you reading these days?
Olga Tokarczuk’s The Lost Soul. Timothy O’Grady’s I Could Read the Sky. Karel Čapek’s book about gardeners, it’s a gem of a comedic book. Pierre Girard, an unjustly forgotten author, I believe he is the Swiss answer to Oscar Wilde. Lots of sci-fi too. I can never read just one book at a time. Just as I can’t write one play at a time. It has to be parallel.

What’s something that makes you laugh?
’70s, ’80s, and ’90s British sitcoms. I’m a huge fan of Blackadder, To the Manor Born, and The Good Life.

Learn more about Marie-Claude:
Marie-Claude Verdier’s first play, Je n’y suis plus, was produced at the National Arts Centre’s French Theatre. Her play Nous autres antipodes received an honourable mention by the Prix Gratien-Gélinas from the Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD). In 2018, Marie-Claude became the first playwright-in-residence at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), where she worked on her play Apparitions. She is currently working on a sci-fi play, Seeker, which Alexis Diamond has been commissioned to translate for BoucheWHACKED! Theatre Collective. Marie-Claude is also a dramaturg and has worked with many distinguished directors, including Marc Beaupré, Christian Lapointe, and Benoît Vermeulen. She lives in Laval.