Books of Affection – Roxann Fournier-Hoyt

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Roxann Fournier-Hoyt, 31 (Interview on August 20, 2021)

Roxann Fournier-Hoyt is the head librarian at the Atwater Library. She started working as an assistant librarian in the Atwater Library at the end of 2020, later becoming the head librarian in the summer of 2021.

 

Fournier-Hoyt reads all sorts of different genres. She also likes to listen to audiobooks, a format that she prefers to use when diving into nonfiction books. As a head librarian, she finds new books mostly through the library catalogue. She also uses the Libby app (a free app where you can borrow ebooks, digital audiobooks, and magazines from several public libraries) to discover recently published books.

Fournier-Hoyt’s favourite books are The Giggler Treatment, by Roddy Doyle (New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2000) (from her collection) and The Devil’s Picnic: Around the World in Pursuit of Forbidden Fruit, by Taras Grescoe (Toronto: HarperCollins, 2006) (from the Atwater Library collection).

In The Giggler Treatment, Doyle writes a children’s story about blue creatures called the gigglers. These creatures punish adults who mistreat children by giving them dog poop to step on. Fournier-Hoyt read this book for the first time when she was 12 years old. After having fun reading it together with a friend, they both decided to share the story with other children, by reading the book for first-grade students at school. This book taught her a way to connect with kids by reading to them.

Roddy Doyle, The Giggler Treatment (New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2000). Digital Montreal, QC. 2021. Photographed by Roxann Fournier-Hoyt.

In The Devil’s Picnic: Around the World in Pursuit of Forbidden Fruit, Grescoe travels around the world to get access to food that is illegal in different countries, such as Norwegian moonshine, malodorous French cheese and Bolivian tea laced with cocaine. The author explains the history and the politics behind each prohibition and gives his own opinion about each case. After reading this book, Fournier-Hoyt started to often consider matters regarding food regulations and the politics behind them when she is eating specific types of food.

Taras Grescoe, The Devil’s Picnic: Around the World in Pursuit of Forbidden Fruit (Toronto: HarperCollins, 2006). Digital Montreal, QC. 2021. Photographed by Wanessa Cardoso.