3 Cities Montreal Launch

The rumors are true. 3 Cities is hitting up the streets of Montreal. The most heart-wrenching, passionate and raw poems in the book come from memories of Montreal. My relationship with MTL is beyond complicated. I visited Montreal as a child with family many times but when I applied to university, I wanted to be as far away from Bradford as possible. There were few creative writing programs: one in Windsor (very much like a Bradford that borders Detroit) in Victoria (BC is beautiful but my mother would die from the distance) and Montreal. I took extended french, I love the flavour of the city. It was a natural fit.

I learned so much more than university lessons from Montreal. I found love, lost love, lived independently, wrote courageously (courageously!),  explored multiple career paths, built a relationship with myself, a conscious understanding of Whitney French, in Montreal.

And then I ran away.

I’ve been back many times and each visit is wildly different. I felt compelled to return to Montreal. Toronto was just a stepping stone to my mecca back. But now that I am very content with being in the Big Smoke, Montreal is just an old friend I visit. Or enemy, or sibling or ex-boyfriend depending on the trip. Wildly different.

I don’t know if Montreal even feels the same way about me. Actually, I know it doesn’t. In fact, the first line that became the inception of 3 Cities comes, a recollection of Montreal:

i
I’m in love with a city that won’t love me back

i

an excerpt from ‘this city’ in 3 Cities

There would be no 3 Cities without this sentence, this confession, this leap of faith. I had to love something that you know can never return the favour. I owe it to Montreal to come back and perform my heart out.

WHAT: 3 Cities Book Montreal Book Launch
WHERE: Concordia Co-op Bookstore (2150 Bishop Street, Montreal)
WHEN: July 4, 2012, 7:30pm
WHO: Whitney French (author of 3 Cities) Enuma aka Whitney Messam (guitarist of Assata)
WHY: Because I’m not over Tré (read the book, you’ll know what I mean)