Our small full-time staff oversees production of the Festival and runs the Blue Metropolis Foundation’s social and educational programs. They’re assisted by external collaborators, freelance programmers for both the Festival and the educational programs, advisory committees made up of volunteer professionals, the all-important volunteers who work during the Festival, and of course, the Board of Directors.
The Festival stages 200 activities in several languages in every edition and offers yearlong educational programs dedicated to fostering academic perseverance, the love of reading, and social harmony.
BLUE METROPOLIS IN-HOUSE STAFF
WILLIAM ST-HILAIRE
President – Executive Director and Artistic Director
MARIE-ANDRÉE LAMONTAGNE
Director General, Programming and Communications
CÉLINE FERNANDES
Assistant Director, Programming and Communications, and Assistant to the
President-Executive Director and Artistic Director
FRÉDÉRICK GAUDIN-LAURIN
Assistant Director, Operations & Educational Programs
LAURENT VIAU-LAPOINTE
Coordinator – Digital Content and Audience Development
EXTERNAL COLLABORATORS AND SERVICES
MARIO ALLAIRE Production
LOUISE BÉLISLE Graphic Design
MYRIAM COMTOIS Media relations (French)
SHELLEY POMERANCE Media relations (English)
DUMONT ST-PIERRE INC. Accounting
LINDA AMYOT Youth Programming
INGRID BEJERMAN Spanish and Portuguese-Language Programming
DAVID BRADFORD Programming and Coordination
CHRISTOPHER DIRADDO LGBTQ+ Programming
GLORIA-SHERRYL FRANÇOIS, Festival Web Reporter
SHELLEY POMERANCE English-Language Programming
VOLUNTEER RESOURCES
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PHILLIPE BÉLANGER Chair of the Board of Directors, Partner, McCarthy Tétreault
LOUISE-ANN MAZIAK Vice President, Member of the Board
CHRISTOPHE ROUBINET Treasurer, Assistant Director of Investments
– Business Development, Filaction
PIERRE-ANDRÉ THEMENS Secretary
Legal counsel, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg S.E.N.C.R.L., s.r.l./LLP
JOFFREY BIENVENUE CTO, Peerless Clothing Inc.
MAYA COUSINEAU-MOLLEN Community Development Advisor First Nations and Inuit, EVOQ Architecture
PETER DANIEL Director, Ilian Consulting and Management INC
YOUSSEF J. FICHTALI Lawyer, Fasken
KATHERINE NIKIDIS, Head of School, Trafalgar School for Girls
CLÉMENTINE SALLÉE Partner, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
HEATHER SOKOLOFF, Member of the Board
FRENCH-LANGUAGE
ADVISORY PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
RODNEY SAINT-ÉLOI Écrivain et éditeur, président de Mémoire d’Encrier
MARINE GURNADE Directrice de la Librairie Gallimard
STÉPHANIE LEMÉTAIS Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois
ALAIN GIGNAC Directeur, professeur titulaire, exégète biblique,
Institut d’études religieuses, Université de Montréal
FRANCIS GINGRAS Directeur, professeur titulaire, Département de littératures
et de langues du monde, Université de Montréal
AMARYLL CHANADY Directrice et professeur titulaire, Département de littératures
et de langues du monde, Université de Montréal
GAËTAN PELLAN Attaché culturel, Consulat général de France à Québec
BRIGITTE BOUCHARD Éditions Notabilia
SIMONE SAUREN Flammarion Canada
TANIA MASSAULT Éditions Alto
ROBERT SCHWARTZWALD Professeur au Département d’études anglaises,
Université de Montréal, et Conseiller à la programmation LGBTQ
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE
ADVISORY PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
JASON CAMLOT Professor, Department of English, Concordia University
SIMON DARDICK Co-publisher, Véhicule Press
CHRISTOPHER DIRADDO Writer, Producer
PETER MANDELOS Director, Paragraphe Books
ELISE MOSER Writer, Editor
GUY RODGERS Executive Director, ELAN
LORI SCHUBERT Executive Director, Quebec Writers’ Federation
LISA GOLDMAN Co-founder and Contributing Editor, +972 Magazine
JESSICA BARDILL Assistant Professor, Department of English, Concordia University
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE-LANGUAGE
PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
HUGH HAZELTON PhD, Modern Languages, Concordia University
LADY ROJAS BENAVENTE PhD, Modern Languages, Concordia University
LUZ MARÍA LEPE PhD, Estudios Amerindios y Educación Bilingüe, Universidad de Querétaro
GINNY STIKEMAN, Premio Azul
GREGORY McCORMICK Toronto Public Library
ALEJANDRO ESTIVILL Escritor, Cónsul General de México en Montreal
CRISTINA FUENTES LAROCHE Hay Festival Americas
JAIME ABELLO BANFI Centro Gabo, Cartagena de Indias
LAURA NIEMBRO Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara
GABRIELA ADAMO Fundación FILBA, Buenos Aires
CLAUDIA NEIRA BERMÚDEZ Centroamérica Cuenta
JUAN CRUZ RUIZ El País de Madrid
JOSÉ-ANTONIO VILLALOBOS SARRIA Colectivo Imagina
CAROLINA ORLOFF Charco Press
CAROLINE HUGNY-MARTIALIS Éditions Urubu
GLORIA MACHER Writer, Translator
CYNTHIA RODRÍGUEZ UpaUpa