In Canoes seven stories orbit a central novella, creating a collection that resonates with the vibrations and frequencies of women’s voices. Daughters, friends, sisters, young and old, talkative or daydreaming – in this moving and poetic collection, Maylis de Kerangal casts light on them all, exploring human entwinement and the precarious balance between life and death.

Maylis de Kerangal is the author of twenty novels and short-story collections, including three that have been translated into English by Jessica Moore and published by Talonbooks: Painting Time, Birth of a Bridge (Prix Médicis, Prix Franz Hessel, Premio Gregor von Rezzori), and Mend the Living (winner of a dozen literary prizes, translated into forty languages, adapted for cinema and theatre). She was an associate artist at the Musée d’Orsay in 2019–2020 and Chair of Literature at Sciences Po Paris in 2020. She lives and works in Paris.

Maylis de Kerangal's profile page

Jessica Moore is the author of a collection of poems, Everything, now (Brick Books, 2012), and the translator for Mend the Living (Talonbooks, 2016), a translation of the novel by Maylis de Kerangal, which was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize and won the Wellcome Book Prize in 2017. Moore’s writing has also appeared recently in BOMB, Canadian Art, Arc, CV2, The New Quarterly, Carousel, The Volta and The Antigonish Review. Moore lives in Toronto, ON.

Jessica Moore's profile page

"More than anything, it is the deep immersion in time that draws the reader into this beautiful collection of stories. In her previous books de Kerangal has seen time as a limitation, a deadline even, the race to transplant the heart in Mend the Living and the ever-delayed construction of a bridge in her first novel to be translated into English, 2014’s Birth of a Bridge, for example. Here she luxuriates in the deep layers of time on which Canoes is constructed, unfurling long and sweeping sentences that grow and meander into individual, multi-layered explorations of humanity." – The New European

"[A] stylish collection … [with] a deep sensitivity to language." – The New Yorker

"De Kerangal is a wonderfully attentive writer with an ear for the most apposite word (a challenge elegantly met by Jessica Moore, who translated the book from the French) as this pitch-perfect collection reveals." – The Daily Mail

“Were I to begin this review with panoramic impressions, I might mention the weird refrain that looped in my head—it’s so good it makes me want to puke—while reading de Kerangal’s novels.” – The New Yorker

“'Canoes'” is an exquisite collection, my favorite of the year." –May-lee Chai, Minnesota Star Tribune

"The beauty of Kerangal’s poetic, multi-layered stories, full of sensory detail and expertly translated by Jessica Moore, lies in their emotional resonance. Anyone dealing with change cannot fail to be moved." – the Financial Times

"Keep an eye out for this one if you’re a fan of literary fiction!" – Camille Thornton, Electric Literature

"Maylis de Kerangal’s new collection of stories collects small, poignant worlds ... a gift to have in English ... Jessica Moore’s translation is seamless and poetic." – Theodore Anderson, Newcity Lit