PLANET, MY LOVE…
IN COLLABORATION WITH
TWO ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS CONTESTS IN ONE:
AN ECO-WRITING CONTEST & AN ECO-VIDEO CONTEST
For its second edition, “Planet, My love” consisted of two components: a writing contest and a video contest, both focused on the same theme: climate issues.
For passionate writers, this was an opportunity to express their environmental concerns through the written word. Participants were required to submit a 1,500-word text in English, in the form of an opinion piece, a narrative, or a short story. The winner in this category is Enrique Rafael Aranda Salas for his piece The Last Garden: A Love Letter to My Grandmother. He had the opportunity to read an excerpt from it during the Planète et littérature award ceremony, held as part of the 28th edition of the Metropolis Bleu festival, which took place from April 23 to 26. You can read his text and listen to it as a podcast below.
The video component of the contest gave creators the opportunity to express themselves through a different medium. In a short video in English, lasting one to two minutes, they expressed their love for nature by drawing inspiration from a word that, in their view, should define the future of the relationship between humans and nature. The two winners (as a team) of this contest are Geneviève Lussier and Sandra Maki for their video Community. Check it out below.
THE WINNER OF THE WRITING CONTEST
Enrique Aranda is a student in the social sciences at Dawson College in Montreal. His interests include law, politics, and contemporary social issues. Through his writing, he enjoys exploring how personal experiences intersect with broader social realities.
THE WINNERS OF THE VIDEO CONTEST
Sandra Maki trained as an engineer but as a mother of two, felt the need to become a climate change activist and communicator. She is also an aspiring filmmaker and writes a blog as well as being on the board of the Save Fairview Forest community group. She believes that when citizens unite, we are powerful in the face of climate change.
Geneviève Lussier is a mother of 2 teens, an elementary school teacher and president and spokesperson of Save Fairview Forest. She is committed to facilitating humans connections to the natural world through various means as well as being passionate about the protection of natural spaces, food security and anything DIY. She is a deeply pragmatic person who is committed to finding solutions, the key to which she always found to be community.
Planet My Love: COMMUNITY by Geneviève Lussier and Sandra Maki
To learn more about the Save Fairview Forest initiative, visit: https://sauvonslaforetfairview.org/
This year, the jury was chaired by the author Emily Ormond.
Emily is a bilingual writer from Montréal with studies in psychology from McGill University, in creative writing from Oxford University and from Concordia University. She also detains a bachelor’s degree in education from University of Ottawa and teaches English as a second language in French secondary schools. In October 2023, her first literary novel, Mauvaise foi, was released by the French publication house Hugo Publishing. Emily divides her time between Montréal and the Laurentians. She is currently working on her second literary novel.
(RE)DISCOVER THE FIRST EDITION OF THE PLANET, MY LOVE… CONTEST
The winners, Kalya Nzesseu for Quand les eaux se taisent and Nancy He for Ophelia, each received a $1,000 bursary. Their works were adapted into podcasts and presented at the 2025 edition of the Blue Metropolis Festival, which revolved around the Tree. Two professional authors, Coltrane Seesequasis and Neil Pfeiffer, also took part in the project, and their texts were recorded as podcasts.
The winners of the contest also had the opportunity to read their texts on stage at the Blue Metropolis Festival.
Check out the winning texts and those of the guest authors, and let yourself be moved by these stories that blend ecological commitment and fiction.
THE 2025 WINNERS OF THE FIRST EDITION OF THE CONTEST
Ophelia by Nancy He
Some deaths are quick and merciful. But the death of a village four hundred strong, stubborn as the juniper on a crumbling cliffside – that is a slow, painful thing.
There is a certain hollow-eyed hopelessness that seeps through, rusting through frail joys and withering faith. You could turn a cheek or trap it in the amber of the liquor bottle, but sooner or later the grey monster crept forth to drown you.
Quand les eaux se taisent by Kalya Nzesseu
Je suis calme, l’âme encore pure, presque parfaite. Mon eau claire reflète les étoiles, et mes rives accueillent les égarements des jeunes amants, qui se murmurent des poèmes à la lumière de la lune. Les racines des arbres plongent profondément dans mon ventre, source de grâce pour tout ce qui vit autour de moi, et mes ondes vibrantes chantent en secret pour les amoureux….
DISCOVER THE TEXTS OF THE AUTHORS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE FIRST EDITION OF PLANET, MY LOVE
Roots Upturned by Coltrane Seesequasis
SANCTUARY
The peaceful quiet before a war provided many opportunities to think.
Semshyr took full advantage of that fact in her shelter of woven leaves. The veins in the deep green fabric emitted a gentle light that brought relief to wearied eyes. Hands clasped behind her back in deep thought, she considered the possibilities tomorrow might bring. Her mind played out the different scenarios like tragic hologram plays, each ending in bloodshed. To the victor would go the spoils, which in this case was the very planet meant to serve as a sanctuary free from the consequences of unchecked greed.
L’Appétit des Eaux by Nell Pfeiffer
La dernière journée qu’octroient les dieux à Valya est sombre et pluvieuse. Le ciel pleure, tout comme sa mère, et les nuages grondent au rythme des tambours qui ponctuent sa marche vers sa sentence.
La première fois que Valya avait assisté à une offrande, elle avait six ans. Elle se souvenait du visage fermé et digne de Sigrid, de son menton fier et de cette barque qui s’était éloignée sur les eaux pour être gobée par la brume.
À ses douze ans, il y avait eu Hilde, dont les lamentations hantaient encore les nuits sans lune de Valya et dont les larmes auraient rassasié, à elles seules, les dieux affamés.
