Bilingual Acrobatics

Laurier Gareau at a writers' retreat in Saskatoon last March

I recently participated in a circle of writers in Regina. Since it was the first meeting of the season, everyone shared the big lines of their current projects. Laurier Gareau was one of the writers participating. He has plays published at La nouvelle plume and writes on a regular basis for the Historical Society (Société historique). His play The Big Wave will be staged in Saskatoon next February and March.
The way he decided to write his new project surprised me. Laurier is writing a novel for children. He wrote the first chapter in English and then translated it in French. For the next chapter, he decided to write first in French and then translate into English. He will repeat this pattern until the novel is finished. I can't wait to see the result and how the language will influence his style.