A private reception was recently held in Saint-Boniface, Man. where Halfmoon Bay's Roger Lagassé unveiled a special edition children's book.
The Seven-Headed Beast (La bête à sept têtes) was co-authored by Lagassé and his mother Yvonne Lagassé.
"Our publisher, les Éditions des Plaines, having published French versions of books by Bill Reid and David Bouchard, among others, produced this special edition in honour of Yvonne's 93rd birthday," said Lagassé in an email to Coast Reporter. "Also present at the Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Roy of the Manoir de la Cathédrale, was my daughter, Misca. She revised the English language version of the book."
According to Lagassé, this is the first time they are publishing a book simultaneously in French and in English. The definitive edition of the book will be on sale next year. "This is the fourth book my mother and I have co-authored and it is the first to be printed in both languages," he said. "Our books are based on folk tales told by my illiterate maternal grandfather who homesteaded in Saskatchewan at the turn of the century. He heard the stories from his grandfather, Jos Dusablon. The Seven-Headed Beast is about a youthful adventurer and his three magical little dogs who, with the help of a clever princess, free a faraway kingdom from the depredations of a child-eating beast.
"Éditions des Plaines has expanded its mandate to include making its publications of francophone authors from Western Canada known to anglophone readers. All four of our books will be published in boxed sets in both languages within the next two years."
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