Catherine Ferland

Catherine Ferland has been making Canadian history part of everyday life for more than 20 years. Trained as a historian, she chose early on to move beyond academic circles and reach audiences elsewhere: in bookstores, on radio, and on public platforms. Her body of work spans a wide range of subjects, including alcohol, food culture, women, and Quebec’s past.

This intellectual curiosity has led her to publish some 15 books, including biographies, reference works, and historical novels for young readers. Several of these works have received awards, such as Bacchus en Canada, La Corriveau, de l’histoire à la légende, and Quinze femmes qui ont fait l’histoire du Québec. She has also written a column for Le Devoir, contributes to Radio-Canada, and gives lectures in Quebec, Ontario, and France.

In 2018, she cofounded Les Rendez-vous d’histoire de Québec, an annual event that draws audiences from well beyond the provincial capital. At Les éditions du Septentrion, where she is associate editor, she oversees the Aujourd’hui l’histoire collection, designed to make scholarly research accessible to the broadest possible audience. Catherine Ferland has shown that the stories of Canada's past can be told powerfully across a wide range of media and platforms, from books to radio to the lecture hall.