Guy Rex Rodgers on the Cover for his New Book, What We Choose to Forget

Guy Rex Rodgers will be launching his new book, What We Choose to Forget, on April 16th. The book explores stories of English-speaking Quebecers from all across the province. Ahead of the launch, Guy shared with us a little bit about how this book came to be. Join us on April 16th for the Montreal book launch event and keep your eyes on ELAN’s newsletter and social media for upcoming announcements about future events around the province.

The cover for What We Choose To Forget is super-charged with images. Was it designed to be a mini history lesson?

Guy Rex Rodgers: Absolutely. A good cover encapsulates the book’s story and mood in a single image. I knew that the story inside my book was about layers, fragments, and competing messages. I immediately thought of a billboard covered in layers with today’s posters fighting for attention and yesterday’s reduced to torn and faded fragments.

How did you go about finding and layering so many images?

GRR: The concept was clear, but I knew it entailed a lot of work for which I had no budget. I decided to collect all the materials I had in mind and to make a mock-up so that a graphic artist could turn them into a cover image fairly quickly. I spent last summer walking the streets of Montreal shooting photos of billboards and posters. I finally found the perfect background image in the skatepark on Saint Laurent beneath the Van Horne overpass. In parallel, I collected images of Quebec’s political and linguistic history.

You have restored FLOUR to the iconic Five Roses Sign.

GRR: Yes. A lot of people notice that. The historic sign said FARINE FIVE ROSES FLOUR but the English word ‘Flour’ was removed in the early days of Bill 101, and the loss was highly symbolic for a lot of Anglos. I have restored it, at least on my cover, which contains dozens of winks to the past, ranging from iconic to whimsical.

Click here to learn more about the book!

RSVP to the launch here!

Land Acknowledgement

ELAN is an official minority language organization within a country that recognizes two languages as official. ELAN is located in Tiohtià:ke, the original name for Montreal in Kanien’kéha, the language of the Mohawk—also known as Mooniyang, which is the Anishinaabeg name given to the city by the Algonquin. While we are based in this city, our projects have also taken place in many regions across Quebec.

We acknowledge the colonial origin of English and French in Canada, and recognize that both languages benefit from official status throughout the land. The province that we know as Quebec is an amalgamation of the traditional territories of the Innu and Inuit nations, Algonquian nations, as well as the Mohawk nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Kanien’kéha and Anishinaabemowin are but two of the original languages of this province; Atikamekw, Cree, Inuktitut, and Innu-aimun are also among the many Indigenous languages spoken across Quebec as majority languages, all well before French and English.

ELAN acknowledges the important work being done by First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to revive the traditional languages of these territories, and their advocacy for the official status of Indigenous languages.