giselevilleneuve.ca
Fortcoming: June 2026
University of Alberta Press

The cover image is based on an artwork by Pierre Ayot, T'as encore brûlé mes toasts, 1969 (which is featured in the last story).

WHAT IS TOAST FOR TWO TONGUES?

"A notable contribution to Far Ouest literature, these nine short stories evoke the prairie epicurean and sweeten the sometimes bitter bilingual tongue in Western Canada. Villeneuve celebrates untranslatable moments of complete understanding across culture, age, time, and planes of existence. Four initial narratives “speak to” four matching, intersecting narratives, followed by a postface, “And What If You Burned My Bilingual Toast. [...] This collection dishes up tales of peaceful coexistence between languages, foreign and familiar lands, myth and reality, writing and reading, air and water, fame and obscurity, exile and home. Bohemian and delicious, Toast for Two Tongues invites readers back for second helpings."


Praise

"Toast for Two Tongues by Gisèle Villeneuve is a unique collection from a Franco-Québécoise writer who has lived and worked in Alberta for decades. In this volume of subtly linked stories, Villeneuve furthers her approaches to bi-langue writing and different oralities. Her sensitive exploration of the liminal hybrid experiences belonging to individuals who negotiate life in society's linguistico-cultural margins provides readers with a window into new ways of seeing the world. The book's arrival onto the Canadian literary landscape enriches us all." Pamela V. Sing, University of Alberta

The stories in brief

Bilingual Toast. In the opening long story, the bilingual toast on the menu of a Saskatchewan diner motivates a Montana horse dealer to launch into a tall tale about fame and his encounter with a leaping road monk.

A Winter of Water Experiments. In an isolated lake community, an asthmatic swimmer seeks to conquer her fear of the deep by teaching herself to breathe underwater.

Stonescents. In a nightly ritual, an old woman celebrates the recovery of her sense of smell by visiting a canyon where the rocks release the wondrous odours of ancient beginnings.

Caught on That Bridge. Hesitating between East and West, between home and exile, a young Czech, vivisector of flies, ponders the koan of his existence.

Intersections:

Montana. A Calgary man goes to Montana to read.

Sitter and Boyfriend. In the Québec countryside, a girl in her bathtub transforms disobedience into initiative.

At Your Own Risk. Safe in a diner at the edge of Mystic Canyon, climbers cling to intermittent recall of their elusive sorties in a maze of boulders.

Verre de Bohême. Having crossed his bridge, the vivisector of flies visits his parents’ destroyed estate outside Prague.

Postface. The Bi-langue Project (unfinished):

And What If You Burned My Bilingual Toast. The ninth and final story belongs to a poète de l’oralité (a spoken-word poet) who binds all the intersecting voices together.