Inspired by Erik Satie's work of the same name, Sports and Pastimes is the latest novel by acclaimed Montreal playwright and author Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard.

Translated by Aimee Wall (whose translation of Vickie Gendreau's Testament for BookThug in 2016 drew critical reviews), this fast-paced story follows the daily life, at once empty and overloaded, of a group of friends who spend all their energy trying to distract themselves with huge hits of endorphins, art and various substances, navigating pleasure and boredom, the extraordinary and the banal, as (more or less) worthy representatives of the best and worst of what their era has to offer.

Born in Plessisville, Quebec, Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard has published two novels in French: Royal and Sports et divertissements (longlisted for the 2014 Prix des librairies). Baril Guérard also co-authored the novel Les cicatrisés de Saint-Sauvignac, stories of water slides and Ménageries, a collection of illustrated tales—both published by Les Éditions de ta Mère. He has written a number of plays, including Quatre Contes Crades / La damné de Lachine and other crazed tales, and Baiseries, and wrote and directed Tranche-Cul/Cut-Throat, a play presented at Montreal’s Théâtre Espace Libre in December 2014 and in London, UK, in 2016.

Newfoundland-native Aimee Wall is a writer and translator. Her essays, short fiction, and criticism have appeared in numerous publications, including Maisonneuve, Matrix Magazine, the Montreal Review of Books, and Lemon Hound. Wall's translations include Vickie Gendreau’s novels Testament (2016), and Drama Queens (2019), and Sports and Pastimes by Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard (2017). She lives in Montreal. We, Jane is her first novel.