Manchester is one example of the many industrial cities that attracted immigrants from Quebec in numbers large enough to warrant the creation and maintenance of an infrastructure of religious, educational, social, cultural, and commercial institutions that helped preserve this community’s language and traditions. Robert Perreault shares stories about life in one of America’s major Franco-American centers.
This program is generously sponsored through a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities, and co-sponsored by the Friends of the Merrimack Public Library.
REGISTRATION REQUIRED, due to limited seating.
Presenter 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 160 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 Southern New Hampshire University. In June 2012, Manchester's Centre Franco-Américain named him "Franco-American of the Year.