Kevin Lambert (born 1992) is a Canadian writer from Quebec.[1] He is most noted for his novel Querelle de Roberval, which won the Prix Ringuet in 2019.[2]
Originally from the Chicoutimi borough of Saguenay, Quebec, Lambert moved to Montreal in his late teens to study literature at the Université de Montréal.[1] He published his debut novel Tu aimeras ce que tu as tué in 2017,[3] and followed up with Querelle de Roberval in 2018.[4] In addition to the Prix Ringuet, Querelle de Roberval won the Prix Sade[5] and the Prix Œuvre de la relève à Montréal,[6] and was shortlisted for the Prix littéraire des collégiens.[7]
Biblioasis has published English translations of both of his novels, with You Will Love What You Have Killed published in 2020,[1] and Querelle of Roberval released in 2022.[8] The translated version of Querelle of Roberval was a finalist for the 2022 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize,[9] and won the 2023 ReLit Award for fiction.[10]
He published his third novel, Que notre joie demeure, in 2022.[13] The novel was named to the initial longlist for the 2023 Prix Goncourt.[14] Following the nomination, the novel sparked some controversy in France because Lambert was open about having had the novel vetted by a sensitivity reader prior to publication as it featured a key character of Haitian descent, with previous Goncourt winner Nicolas Mathieu criticizing the practice as stifling to a writer's creative liberty.[15] The novel was subsequently named the winner of the Prix Médicis[16] and the Prix Ringuet.[17]
May Our Joy Endure, an English translation of Que notre joie demeure, was published in fall 2024,[18] around the same time as the publication of Lambert's fourth novel Les Sentiers de neige.[19]
