''Solaris'' is a Canadian

francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

science-fiction and fantasy magazine. Founded in 1974 in Longueuil (

Québec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

) by

Norbert Spehner Norbert is a Germanic given name, from ''nord'' "north" and ''berht'' "bright". Norbert is also occasionally found as a surname. People with the given name Academia * Norbert Angermann (born 1936), German historian * Norbert A’Campo (born 1941 ...

, and originally known as Requiem magazine, ''Solaris'' is the oldest

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

science-fiction and fantasy

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

in the world.

History and profile

''Solaris'' not only publishes established authors, but fosters the development of young

creators through a strong editorial direction. Mostly published and distributed in

, ''Solaris'' is also known in anglophone Canada, the United States and in Europe, where it is considered to be one of the most significant francophone magazines of its field. ''Solaris'' deals in all forms of science fiction and fantasy, including

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

and "weird" fiction. It publishes original material ( short stories and

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

s) as well as related information,

criticism Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''"the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the good or bad q ...

, interviews and articles. ''Solaris'' sponsors an annual literary contest, the

Prix Solaris Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who als ...

, intended to encourage new authors. The Prix Solaris is open only to Canadian 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 ...

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 ...

, the Prix Solaris had two sides : literature and graphic novels. ''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 Joël Champetier (30 November 1957 – 30 May 2015) was a French-Canadian science fiction and fantasy author. Biography Born in La Corne, Quebec (Abitibi-Témiscamingue district), Champetier became a full-time writer after working in electroche ...

(''The Dragon's Eye''),

Yves Meynard Yves Meynard (born 13 June 1964) is a Canadian science fiction and fantasy writer. He writes in both English and French. Biography Meynard made his debut as an author in 1986 at the Boréal congress in Longueuil. Along with Philippe Gauthier an ...

(''The Books of Knights'') and Élisabeth Vonarburg (''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 French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fr ...

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 (in addition to the eleven Auroras won by the magazine itsel

almost as many

Prix Boréal Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who als ...

and a significant proportion of

Grand Prix de la Science-Fiction et du Fantastique Québécois Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commun ...

. 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 novels short stories ''(

bandes dessinées Bandes may refer to: * BANDES, The Venezuelan Economic and Social Development Bank * Susan Bandes Susan Bandes is an American lawyer and the current Centennial Distinguished Professor Emeritus at DePaul University. Bandes is considered one of ...

)'', 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 creators were published in its pages : André-Philippe Côté,

Benoît Joly Benoît () is a French male given name. It is less frequently spelled Benoist. The name comes from the Latin word , which means "the one who says the good", equivalent in meaning to Bénédicte or the English name Benedict. A female derivative ...

Mario Giguère is a character (arts), character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in ...

Julien Poitras Julien may refer to: People * Julien (given name) * Julien (surname) Music * ''Julien'' (opera), a 1913 poème lyrique by Gustave Charpentier * ''Julien'' (album), by Dalida, 1973 * "Julien" (song), by Carly Rae Jepsen, 2019 Places Un ...

Marc Pageau Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system ...

Robert Julien The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, ho ...

, Laurine Spehner,

Christian Vadeboncoeur Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...

Éric Lacasse Éric eʁikis a French masculine given name, the equivalent of English Eric. In French-speaking Canada and Belgium it is also sometimes unaccented, and pronounced "Eric" as English with the stress on the "i". A notable French exception is Erik ...

and others.

Illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

s contributing to the covers and the interior of the magazine include

Bernard Duchesne Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brave ...

Pierre D. Lacroix Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, Guy England,

Jean-Pierre Normand Jean-Pierre or Jean Pierre may refer to: People * Karine Jean-Pierre b.1977, White House Deputy Press Secretary for President Joe Biden 2021- * Jean-Pierre, Count of Montalivet (1766–1823), French statesman and Peer of France * Eugenia Pierre ( ...

, Paul Roux, Laurine Spehner, among others.

Awards

* 1989 :

Prix Aurora Award 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 lur ...

best work in French (other) * 1990 :

best work in French (other) * 1991 :

best work in French (other) * 1992 :

best work in French (other) * 1993 :

best work in French (other) * 1995 :

best work in French (other) * 1996 :

best work in French (other) * 1997 :

best work in French (other) * 1998 :

best work in French (other) * 2000 :

best work in French (other) * 2001 :

best work in French (other) * 2002 :

best work in French (other) * 2004 :

best work in French (other) * 2006 :

best work in French (other)

Bibliography and sources

* ''Solaris'', by the organizational committee, page 34, in ''

Science-fiction et fantastique Boréal 10 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 universe ...

'', 1988, Congress Boréal 10 program, Chicoutimi ; * '' Histoire de la bande dessinée au Québec'', 2008, Mira Falardeau, VLB éditeur, 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

History and profile

Awards

See also

Bibliography and sources

External links