History and profile
Solaris not only publishes established authors, but fosters the development of young francophone creators through a strong editorial direction. Mostly published and distributed in Québec, Solaris is also known in anglophone Canada, the United States and in Europe, where it is considered to be one of the most significant francophone magazines of its field.
Solaris deals in all forms of science fiction and fantasy, including horror and "weird" fiction. It publishes original material (short stories and illustrations) as well as related information, criticism, interviews and articles.
Solaris sponsors an annual literary contest, the Prix Solaris, intended to encourage new authors. The Prix Solaris is open only to Canadian authors. From 1981 to 2000, the Prix Solaris had two sides : literature and graphic novels.
Solaris aims to account for the existing richness of science fiction and fantasy, as well as to examine all emerging tendencies and new approaches. Whereas the growing popularity of the field is mostly spurred by its audio-visual representations, Solaris continues to support literary creation and reflection.
The team responsible for Solaris includes authors such as Joël Champetier (The Dragon's Eye), Yves Meynard (The Books of Knights) and Élisabeth Vonarburg (In the Mother's Land, Reluctant Voyagers, The Silent City). Through the years, Solaris has been edited by Vonarburg, Luc Pomerleau and Hugues Morin. Champetier was the managing editor until his death in 2015.
After more than twenty-five years of activity, Solaris has published nearly all significant French-Canadian science fiction and fantasy writers. Stories that have originally appeared within the pages of the magazine have gone on to win nearly a dozen Prix Aurora Awards (in addition to the eleven Auroras won by the magazine itself), almost as many Prix Boréal and a significant proportion of Grand Prix de la Science-Fiction et du Fantastique Québécois. Several of these stories can be read in the English-language anthology TesseractsQ, published by Tesseracts Books.
From 1981 to 2000, Solaris also published many graphic novels short stories (bandes dessinées), but abandoned the publication of those in 2000 because of the shrinking of its format from magazine size to book size. Many of Québec's comic book creators were published in its pages : André-Philippe Côté, Benoît Joly, Mario Giguère, Julien Poitras, Marc Pageau, Robert Julien, Laurine Spehner, Christian Vadeboncoeur, Éric Lacasse and others.
Illustrators contributing to the covers and the interior of the magazine include Bernard Duchesne, Mario Giguère, Pierre D. Lacroix, Guy England, Jean-Pierre Normand, Marc Pageau, Paul Roux, Laurine Spehner, among others.
Quebec comics are French language comics produced primarily in the Canadian province of Quebec, and read both within and outside Canada, particularly in French-speaking Europe.
A strong element in contemporary Canadian culture is rich, diverse, thoughtful and witty science fiction.
The Aurora Awards are a set of primarily literary awards given annually for the best Canadian science fiction or fantasy professional and fan works and achievements from the previous year. The event is organized by Canvention and the awards are given out by the Canadian SF and Fantasy Association and SFSF Boreal Inc. Originally they were known as the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards which was shortened to CSFFA and nicknamed the Casper Awards based on that acronym, but this name was changed to the Aurora Awards in 1991, because the Aurora is the same in English and French. The categories have expanded from those focused on literary works to include categories that recognize achievements in comics, music, poetry, art, film and television.
Élisabeth Vonarburg is a science fiction writer. She was born in Paris (France) and has lived in Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada since 1973.
Joël Champetier was a French-Canadian science fiction and fantasy author.
The 67th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Anticipation, was held on 6–10 August 2009 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal in Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Francine Pelletier is a Canadian science fiction writer, whose work often features strong female protagonists. She has been a winner of several literary prizes for science fiction, including the Prix Aurora Award.
Alain Bergeron is a Québécois science fiction author and political scientist.
Yves Meynard is a Canadian science fiction and fantasy writer. He writes in both English and French.
Éric Thériault is a Canadian comics artist, writer, illustrator and blogger living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Steve Requin is a Canadian cartoonist from Beloeil, Quebec, Canada.
Éric Gauthier is a quebecois author who was born in 1975 in Rouyn-Noranda, in the Abitibi region of Quebec.
Jean-Louis Trudel is a Canadian science fiction writer. He was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and has lived in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal before moving to Quebec City, Quebec in 2010. He teaches history part-time at the University of Ottawa.
Hades Publications is a publishing company owned by Brian Hades that focuses on science fiction and fantasy literature. The company publishes under four different imprints and is currently the largest dedicated Canadian publisher of science fiction and fantasy.
Boréal is an annual French-language science fiction and fantasy convention in Canada, held in a number of different cities since its founding in 1979, though all of them, save Ottawa in 1989, were located in the province of Quebec. Major events of the convention include the panel discussions, the Guest of Honour presentations, the dealer's room, and the awards ceremony. Other events on the convention program typically include a writing contest, readings and videos, as well as book, magazine, and fanzine launches.
Louis Paradis is a Canadian comics artist, writer and illustrator from Montmagny, Quebec, Canada.
Safarir is a defunct Canadian French-language humour magazine. The name is derived from "safari" and French "ça fait rire", "it makes you laugh". It was in circulation between 1987 and 2016
Zviane is a comics creator and a musician from Montréal, Quebec.
Michèle Laframboise is a Canadian science fiction writer and comics artist.
The Aurora Awards are granted annually by the Canadian SF and Fantasy Association and SFSF Boreal Inc. The Award for Best Related Work, was first recognized in 1983 as a separate category from Best Long-Form and was first granted in 1989 as the Award for Best Other Work one granted to an English-language work and one to a French-language work. In 1999 it changed its name to Best Work (Other), and when the Prix Aurora and Prix Boreal combined, the awards adopted the name Best Related Work in 2012.
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