Author, researcher, and activist Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny arrived at the site of the Lac-Mégantic tragedy five days after it occurred. Her book-length piece of investigative journalism, Mégantic: A Deadly Mix of Oil, Rail, and Avarice (Talonbooks, 2020), was in its original French edition the winner of the 2018 prix Pierre-Vadeboncœur, a finalist for the 2018 Governor General’s Literary Awards for Non-Fiction, and listed for the 2019 Prix des libraires. She has been a social and environmental activist in various NGOs for over thirty-five years. She lives in Val-David, Quebec.