The Conseil des arts de Montréal (CAM) and Théâtre ESPACE GO, in collaboration with the members of the Award Development Committee*, are pleased to announce that Rébecca Déraspe has won this year’s Jovette-Marchessault Award, whose sixth edition is dedicated to women playwrights. The award recognizes and showcases the contributions of women artists to the Montréal theatre scene and comes with a $20,000 cash prize, which will be presented to the winner by the Conseil. As a partner of ESPACE GO, Air Transat will award the two other finalists, Annick Lefebvre and Marie-Christine Lê-Huu, a round-trip ticket to Paris.
“It is with immense pride that we present the Prix Jovette-Marchessault to Rébecca Déraspe, a sensitive, lively and prolific author with an impressive career. Her burning need to repair the world, reflected in her writing and echoing the current political climate, reminds us just how much we need the voices of artists like her. The Conseil des arts de Montréal is proud to celebrate her exceptional talent, which makes Quebec and Montreal shine abroad.”
– Nathalie Maillé, Executive Director
“Being chosen for an award that bears the name of a woman determined to keep the voices of her predecessors alive is incredibly moving. I have the dizzying impression that Jovette Marchessault herself is holding my hand, giving me the strength to continue bearing witness to the world. On my shoulders, on my back, in the hours I spend in meandering explorations at my computer, I feel the hands of my contemporaries, who, in awarding me this prize, are giving me the gift of their wonderful and necessary support. Thanks to you, I yearn to say more, to create something new out of things coming undone, to seek the theatre in my own anger, to put myself out there even when the burning of things frightens me, to delve into my own dramatic structures to build as close to the truth as possible. Thanks to you, and with you, I want to continue to resist. Women playwrights, and all women authors, whether they take the stage in Montréal or elsewhere, are masterful, with the courage to write the sound of chaos as they feel it in their bones, in their veins. It is with them that I wish to write. Because between us, we draw a necessary line of force.”
– Rébecca Déraspe
This Conseil des arts de Montréal award was named after Jovette Marchessault in tribute to a great “tuner of souls” whose works reflect a desire to bring women’s culture out of the shadows, reshape history and forge a collective memory that allows women to be role models for everyone. The 2026 edition of the Jovette-Marchessault Award will focus on women directors. The call for nominations will open in fall 2025.
*Members of the Jovette-Marchessault Award Development Committee: Nahka Bertrand, Micheline Chevrier, Margarita Herrera-Dominguez, Lior Maharjan and Marie-Eve Milot