Authors, Artists & Artisans Friends
Do you have a Franco in your life? Someone who has French heritage? Someone who is interested in Franco history, culture or the French language? We are here to help! Below are links to the websites for artists, artisans, authors and shops where you can find something that might just make that special Franco in your life say a big Merci!
Authors
Jeanne Douillard
For more than 25 years, Jeanne Douillard has probed the history of the French in the Americas. An independent scholar, she began by researching her own family genealogy and discovered she had Québecois, Acadiens, Algonquin and English roots. She wanted to find out more about these people. Her passion led her to delve deeply into the quagmire of conflicting historiographies. English, French and American historians of the past offered up irreconcilable views of La Nouvelle France [New France] and its people. She was intrigued. What is the truth and why have the French in particular been such a silent presence in New England?
She published her book, I Remember: Je Me Souviens… in 2015 and began giving presentations throughout New England. Entitled Silent Presence – The French in New England, she shares her personal story intertwined with the historical story of the Québecois and Acadiens in the Americas. It is a compelling tale of generational trauma; however, she provides a very hopeful outcome. In her talk she says: “As Jennifer Lee, a Native American story teller says: ‘To know what happened can empower and inform you.’ I concur.”
COVID put an end to telling this story in person in 2020, but in 2025 she renewed her commitment and is available to share this important tale in person or online, although she prefers in-person presentations.
Jeanne is one of the major contributors to the book Building a Better Life: The French- Canadians in Western Massachusetts, published by the Republican newspaper in Springfield, MA, and available on Amazon.com. Her narrative poem, Not So Much the Same Place, is found in an anthology of women writers of French heritage. Entitled Heliotrope, the book is also found on Amazon.com. Her soon to be published poem, pain, will appear in the latest edition of the online publication, Résonance. Jeanne’s book, I Remember: Je Me Souviens…, is available for purchase. Please contactl her at handscapespotter@gmail.com.
In addition to presenting throughout New England, Jeanne is currently working on a Chapbook entitled North Carolina Memories, as well as readying her first book of published poems. She is a member of the Poetry Seminar group in Charlemont, MA.
Marie- Josée Duquette
Marie-Josée Duquette has been the Culture, Francophonie and Academic Affairs Attaché for more than 3 years at the Québec Government Office in Boston. Born and raised in Montreal, Qc, she has lived in the Boston area for over 12 years. She has published two books in French in Quebec; “Une Québécoise à Boston (2017)” and “Histoire d’une vie trop courte (2015)“. Her home is as much in Quebec as in New England.
To purchase her books, click on the titles.
Becky Field, Photographer
Since 2012, photographer Becky Field has documented cultural diversity among immigrants in New Hampshire. Her photography project, “Different Roots, Common Dreams: New Hampshire’s Cultural Diversity,” has been exhibited throughout the Northeast. She has published two books, “Different Roots, Common Dreams: New Hampshire’s Cultural Diversity,” and “Finding Home: Portraits and Memories of Immigrants.” Becky set up the “Different Roots, Common Dreams Scholarship Fund” at NH Charitable Foundation to help immigrants complete a college degree. She studied at photography centers throughout the Northeast. In the past she was a research ecologist and university professor. She holds a certificate in photography from the NH Institute of Art, and a doctoral degree in wildlife ecology.
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Photo by Allegra Boverman
Laura Knoy, Author
For 25 years, Laura Knoy hosted New Hampshire Public Radio’s live, daily call-in show The Exchange, interviewing thousands of guests and earning statewide and national recognition for intelligence, depth, and civility. In 2021, she left journalism to launch her own communications practice, supporting organizations through interviews, events, podcasting, and narration.
She recently completed her first novel, The Shopkeeper of Alsace, published in November 2025 by Bedazzled Ink. She also hosts ReadLocalNH, a podcast celebrating New Hampshire authors, independent bookstores, and the readers who bring their stories to life.
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To purchase Laura’s book or to learn more about her various activities, click the links below.
Find The Shopkeeper of Alsace:
Janis Hennessey
Janis Hennessey is a children’s book author. She earned a master’s degree in French Literature from University of KY and a diploma in French History from the Sorbonne, Université de Paris, She taught French in KY, MA, and NH where she encouraged her students to write creatively in another language. She has written 3 series for children of all ages. Janis hopes the stories she imagines will ignite the joy of reading in each child.
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Abby Paige
Abby Paige is a writer and theater artist. A twelfth-generation settler to N’dakinna, the Wabanaki homeland, she was born and raised in northern Vermont on unceded Western Abenaki territory.
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She has recently published Piecework / Travail à la pièce, published by the University of Maine Press. And has authored two chapbooks of poetry, Clean Margins (Harbor Review Editor’s Prize, 2020) and Other Brief Discourses (above/ground press, 2013). Her writing has appeared in publications in the US, Canada, and the UK, including the 2020 Best Canadian Poetry Anthology. She is Drama & Book Review Editor for the on-line Franco-American literary journal, Résonance, and creator with Leah Souffrant of the LeAb Lab for performance research. Having returned to the US in 2021, she currently lives in Vermont.
Robert Perreault
Robert B. Perreault has worked as a research assistant/oral history interviewer, librarian/archivist, freelance writer, historical tour guide, public speaker, photographer, and conversational French teacher to promote Manchester’s history and New England’s Franco-American culture since 1973. His works of nonfiction and fiction, written in French, in English or in both languages, include seven books and more than 150 articles, essays, and short stories published in the US, Canada and France. Perreault holds an MA in French with specialization in New England Franco-American studies from Rhode Island College and an MFA in Creative Writing/Fiction from SNHU. In June 2012, Manchester’s Centre Franco-American named him “Franco-American of the Year.”
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Make sure to check out Robert's newest novel, Courtship in Purgatory published in November 2025.
Emilie-Noelle Provost
Emilie-Noelle Provost is a writer, editor, and author who lives in a northeastern Massachusetts mill town — the same one that Jack Kerouac was from — with her husband, daughter, and three crazy rescue cats.
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Throughout her career, Emilie has worked as an editor for five magazine titles and has written hundreds of articles as both an editor and a freelancer. She was also the editor in chief of a media company for five years.
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Emilie has published several short stories in various magazines, journals, and anthologies, and is the author of The Blue Bottle. Her second novel, The River Is Everywhere, was published in March 2023 by Vine Leave Press.
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Jean Pouliot
Jean Pouliot grew up in a French-Canadian neighborhood in Manchester, New Hampshire. He his the product of Catholic parochial education, where he spoke French at home and half the day at school. He is proud of his Québecois roots. Jean studied physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and earned a B.A. in Psychology from the University of New Hampshire. He holds a Masters degree in Catholic ministry from Saint John’s Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts. He has been writing songs, poems, limericks and stories for close to fifty years. He now resides in Massachusetts, and is a husband and father of two. His interests are American history, Christian history, hiking, biking and crosswords.
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Jean can be reached at jean@jeanedouardpouliot.com.​
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You can learn more about Jean & purchase his books at his website.
David Vermette
David Vermette is a researcher and writer who studies the history and identity of the descendants of French North America. He has been an invited speaker at universities and historical and genealogical societies. Vermette is a third generation Franco-American from Massachusetts.
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Artists & Artisans
Dominique Boutaud
Dominique is an internationally recognized artist and has exhibited around the world, including the USA, Spain, Monaco, France, Germany, Switzerland, China, Japan, and Italy. She has received numerous awards, most recently the Gold Medal (2021) and Silver Medal (2018) from the Arts-Sciences-Lettres Society; the Gold Medal from the French Renaissance; and the Jean Louis Forain prize from the Society of French Poets.
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Dominique Boutaud was born and raised in Nice, France. She received considerable influence from her artist father and her mother. In 1996, she moved to the United States, and currently lives and works in Nashua, NH. The nature and vibrant colors of the French Riviera continue to inspire her artistic talent and passion.
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She was both formally educated and self-taught in numerous techniques. After creating many still life and landscapes, Dominique moved to abstract creative painting and gained freedom in new effects and harmony. In addition to drawing, watercolor, and oil painting, Dominique has produced artistic works in pottery, leather craft, bookbinding, woodwork, ironwork, quilting, basket weaving, and more.
Joe Deleault
Joe Deleault is an award winning international performer, composer, and session pianist who proudly celebrates his Franco-American heritage through music.
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His television and film credits include Grown Ups II, Dawson's Creek, PBS's Roadtrip Nation, NH Chronicle, Time and Charges, Heavenly Angle, and many more. His music composed for stage credits include On Golden Pond, Political Suicide, POEms, Shakespeare’s the Tempest, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and many more.
Joe’s piano can be heard nightly on the opening theme to NH Chronicle on ABC. His recent projects include work with academy award-winner Ernest Thompson, filmmaker Ken Burns and StoryFirst.
In 2022, Joe won the Telly Award.
Lucie Therrien
Nationally & internationally acclaimed recording & film artist Lucie Therrien is a New Hampshire performer, certified teacher, composer, linguist, filmmaker, historian, author, poet, artist & speaker.
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A native of Newport, Vermont, she was educated in French schools in the Province of Quebec, and holds a B.A. degree in Piano Performance and a M.A. in Music History.
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She has toured in five continents, appearing in a variety of foreign consulates, Parliament agencies, on PBS-TV and Radio, the "Good Day! Show" in Boston, and on CBC-TV/Radio-Canada. In conjunction with Quebec's 400th anniversary in 2008, Lucie published a book/CD set titled "Dual Citizen-Deux Citoyennetés," subtitled "Memoir Glimpses -- Traditions French-Canadian". The colleciton includes 17 songs and poems presented on an included CD.​
Josée Vachon
Josée Vachon has been sharing her Franco-American upbringing for over 25 years through traditional and contemporary folksongs from Québec and Acadia and through her own compositions.
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Ms Vachon has 12 solo recordings to her credit, and continues to perform and record the music that best represents her love of Franco-American culture.
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Wendy Langelier – BY.ARLENEPOTTERY
Henri Vaillancourt
Two implements of indigenous invention were supremely important to the French in New France : the birchbark canoe, and the snowshoe. Daily seasonal activities, travel, exploration, and the highly profitable fur trade would have been inefficient without them. A native speaker from francophone majority Greenville NH, Henri has been self employed for 50 years in the building of birchbark canoes [and snowshoes in earlier years], and more importantly has devoted much of his life to researching manufacture and use of these implements among four Native tribes in Quebec. In 1977, he and associate Todd Crocker founded the Trust for Native American Cultures and Crafts, a 501c-3 non-profit foundation, dedicated to this work. Information on their videos and book on these subjects can be found below.