Cadine is pleased to invite you to a book signing for French Ending / Une fin française by author and illustrator Kyla Bourgh on Thursday, October 22nd. This is an opportunity to meet with the author and hear her anecdotes about the fateful summer that inspired this metafiction. Preorder your own book signed by the author here.
French Ending / Une fin française was written by Kyla Bourgh during a two-month artist residency in a small town in France and illustrated later by the author in Vancouver, where memory and distance became a second translation of the experiences captured in the stories. Breaking away from conventional forms, Bourgh's prose unfolds as a fluid stream of consciousness where emotions, thoughts, and metafiction narratives intertwine. As the narrator navigates daily life with only a partial mastery of French, familiar certainties dissolve, provoking estrangement while opening space for unexpected encounters and new ways of belonging.
Moving through moments of misunderstanding, humour, and vulnerability, Bourgh questions the limits of expression while revealing the surprising possibilities that emerge through fragmented language.
French Ending / Une fin française is bilingual in French and English with a version to be released in 2027 in English and Spanish. The book was created collaboratively with book designer, illustrator and graphic designer Viviana Maidanik, from Argentina and her publishing house Claraquel Edicione. The collaboration combined collective skills sets and connections. The book will tour France, Canada and Argentina.
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Kyla Bourgh is a visual artist, writer, curator and educator. A graduate of the Master of Visual Arts program at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2020, Bourgh engages in a range of projects. She was co-editor of The Post Feminist Post (2015-2017) with Leela Blaney. She is director and curator of a hidden art gallery called Atelier 8.18 (2020-2025) which hosted 3 world collage days and promoted numerous local and international artists. Bourgh is running and facilitating a supportive critique group called CRIT since 2021 and she mentors artists through art coaching.
