''Solaris'' is a Canadian
francophone science-fiction and fantasy magazine.
Founded in 1974 in
Longueuil
Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River directly ac ...
(
Québec) by
Norbert Spehner, and originally known as Requiem magazine, ''Solaris'' is the oldest
French language science-fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
and
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
magazine in the world.
History and profile
''Solaris'' not only publishes established
author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
s, but fosters the development of young
francophone creators through a strong editorial direction. Mostly published and distributed in
Québec, ''Solaris'' is also known in
anglophone
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
, where it is considered to be one of the most significant francophone magazines of its field.
''Solaris'' deals in all forms of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
and
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
, including
horror and
"weird" fiction. It publishes original material (
short stories and
illustrations) as well as related information,
criticism,
interview
An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...
s and articles.
''Solaris'' sponsors an annual literary contest, the
Prix Solaris, intended to encourage new authors. The Prix Solaris is open only to
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
authors. From
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
to
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
, the Prix Solaris had two sides :
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
and
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
s.
''Solaris'' aims to account for the existing richness of science fiction and fantasy, as well as to examine all emerging tendencies and new approaches. Whereas the growing popularity of the field is mostly spurred by its audio-visual representations, ''Solaris'' continues to support literary creation and reflection.
The team responsible for ''Solaris'' includes authors such as
Joël Champetier (''The Dragon's Eye''),
Yves Meynard (''The Books of Knights'') and
Élisabeth Vonarburg
Élisabeth Vonarburg (born 5 August 1947) is a science fiction writer. She was born in Paris (France) and has lived in Chicoutimi (now Saguenay), Quebec, Canada since 1973.
From 1979 to 1990 she was the literary director of the French-Canadian ...
(''In the Mother's Land'', ''Reluctant Voyagers'', ''The Silent City''). Through the years, ''Solaris'' has been edited by Vonarburg, Luc Pomerleau and Hugues Morin. Champetier was the managing editor until his death in 2015.
After more than twenty-five years of activity, ''Solaris'' has published nearly all significant
French-Canadian science fiction and fantasy writers. Stories that have originally appeared within the pages of the magazine have gone on to win nearly a dozen
Prix Aurora Awards
The Aurora Awards (french: Prix Aurora-Boréal) are a set of primarily literary awards given annually for the best Canadian science fiction or fantasy professional and fan works and achievements from the previous year."Literary glow of Auroras lure ...
(in addition to the eleven Auroras won by the magazine itsel
almost as many
Prix Boréal and a significant proportion of
Grand Prix de la Science-Fiction et du Fantastique Québécois. Several of these stories can be read in the English-language anthology ''Tesseracts
Q'', published by Tesseracts Books.
From 1981 to 2000, ''Solaris'' also published many
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
s short stories ''(
bandes dessinées Bandes may refer to:
* BANDES, The Venezuelan Economic and Social Development Bank
* Susan Bandes, American lawyer
* Efim Samuilovich Bandes (1866–1927), Russian-Jewish political activist, known in the United States as Louis Miller
{{dis ...
)'', but abandoned the publication of those in 2000 because of the shrinking of its format from magazine size to book size. Many of Québec's
comic book creator
developed specialized terminology. Some several attempts have been made to formalize and define the terminology of comics by authors such as Will Eisner, Scott McCloud, R. C. Harvey and Dylan Horrocks. Much of the terminology in English is ...
s were published in its pages :
André-Philippe Côté,
Benoît Joly,
Mario Giguère,
Julien Poitras,
Marc Pageau,
Robert Julien,
Laurine Spehner,
Christian Vadeboncoeur,
Éric Lacasse and others.
Illustrators contributing to the covers and the interior of the magazine include
Bernard Duchesne,
Mario Giguère,
Pierre D. Lacroix,
Guy England,
Jean-Pierre Normand,
Marc Pageau,
Paul Roux
Paul Roux is a small town in the Free State province of South Africa that produces poplar wood for the safety match industry. It is situated on the N5 highway near Bethlehem, Free State. It was named after a well-known Dutch Reformed Church lea ...
,
Laurine Spehner, among others.
Awards
* 1989 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 1990 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 1991 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 1992 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 1993 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 1995 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 1996 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 1997 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 1998 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 2000 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 2001 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 2002 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 2004 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
* 2006 :
Prix Aurora Award best work in French (other)
See also
*
Bande dessinée
(singular ; literally 'drawn strips'), abbreviated BDs and also referred to as Franco-Belgian comics (), are comics that are usually originally in French and created for readership in France and Belgium. These countries have a long tradition ...
*
Canadian comics
Canadian comics refers to comics and cartooning by citizens of Canada or Permanent residency in Canada, permanent residents of Canada regardless of residence. Canada has Official bilingualism in Canada, two official languages, and distinct comic ...
*
Canadian science fiction
*
Quebec comic strips
Quebec comics (french: bande dessinée québécoise, or BDQ) are French language comics produced primarily in the Canadian province of Quebec, and read both within and outside Canada, particularly in French-speaking Europe.
In contrast to Englis ...
Bibliography and sources
* ''Solaris'', by the organizational committee, page 34, in ''
Science-fiction et fantastique Boréal 10'', 1988, Congress Boréal 10 program,
Chicoutimi
Chicoutimi () is the most populous borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay in Quebec, Canada.
It is situated at the confluence of the Saguenay and Chicoutimi rivers. During the 20th century, it became the main administrative and com ...
;
* ''
Histoire de la bande dessinée au Québec
Histoire (French for 'story' or 'history') may refer to:
* Histoire TV, a French television channel
* Historia (TV channel), or Canal Histoire, a Canadian television channel
* ''L'Histoire'', a French magazine
* , a 1967 novel by Claude Simon
S ...
'', 2008,
Mira Falardeau
Mira Falardeau (born 1948) is a French Canadian historian, professor, and author of comic strips (French: ''bande dessinée'', BD). Falardeau has devoted works to Québec animated films, Québec comic strips and caricatures in Québec, focusing ...
,
VLB éditeur VLB may refer to:
Science and technology
* VESA Local Bus, a local bus based on the Intel 80486 CPU
* Very large board, a large printed circuit board
* Vincaleukoblastine, or vinblastine, an antitumor alkaloid
Other uses
* VLB Berlin (Versuch- u. ...
, Études québécoises collection, Montréal.
External links
*
Official website of ''Solaris'';
*
''Solaris'' on the encyclopedic science fiction website ''nooSFere''
{{ScienceFictionMagazines
1974 establishments in Quebec
Quarterly magazines published in Canada
Science fiction magazines published in Canada
French-language magazines published in Canada
Magazines published in Quebec
Magazines established in 1974
Science fiction magazines established in the 1970s