Marie-Claire Blais (5 October 1939 – 30 November 2021) was a Canadian writer, novelist, poet, and playwright from the province of Quebec. In a career spanning more than sixty years, she wrote novels, plays, collections of poetry and fiction, newspaper articles, radio dramas, and scripts for television. She was a four-time recipient of the Governor General’s literary prize for French-Canadian literature, and was also a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship for creative arts.

Some of her most famous works are: Mad Shadows (La Belle Bête, 1959), A Season in the Life of Emmanuel (1965), The Manuscripts of Pauline Archange (1968), Deaf to the City (1979), and the ten-volume series Soifs written between 1995 and 2018.

Early life

Blais was born on 5 October 1939 into a blue collar family in Québec, the daughter of Fernando and Véronique (Nolin) Blais. She studied at a convent school, but had to interrupt her education at the age of 15 to seek employment as a clerk and later as a typist. She received a grant from the Canada Council of Arts which allowed her to begin writing full-time.

In 1972, she became a Companion of the Order of Canada. Many of her works have been adapted for other formats: La belle bête was made into a ballet by the National Ballet of Canada in 1977. The same book was made into a movie by Karim Hussain in 1976.

She sponsored the starting in 2005; awarded annually to a French author for their debut novel.

In addition to her novels, Blais has written several plays, collections of poetry and fiction, newspaper articles, radio dramas, and scripts for television. Her works had characters that included delinquent children, wayward nuns and abusive priests and included issues like white supremacy, nuclear holocaust, and the AIDS epidemic.

Personal life

Blais was a longtime partner of American writer and painter Mary Meigs. Meigs predeceased her in 2002.

Works

Source:

  • La Belle Bête (Mad Shadows) – 1959
  • Tête blanche (White Head) – 1960
  • Le jour est noir – ("The Day is Dark" in The Day is Dark and Three Travellers) 1962
  • Pays voilés ("Veiled Countries" in Veiled Countries/Lives) – 1963
  • Une saison dans la vie d'Emmanuel (A Season in the Life of Emmanuel) – 1965
  • L'insoumise (The Fugitive) – 1966
  • Les voyageurs sacrés ("Three Travellers" in The Day is Dark and Three Travellers) – 1966
  • Existences ("Lives" in Veiled Countries/Lives) – 1967
  • Les manuscrits de Pauline Archange (The Manuscripts of Pauline Archange) – 1968
  • L'exécution (The Execution) – 1968
  • Vivre! Vivre! (The Manuscripts of Pauline Archange) – 1969
  • Les apparences (Dürer's Angel) – 1970
  • Le loup (The Wolf) – 1972
  • Un Joualonais, sa Joualonie (St. Lawrence Blues) – 1973
  • Fièvre et autres textes dramatiques – 1974
  • Une liaison parisienne (A Literary Affair) – 1975
  • Océan suivi de murmures – 1977
  • Les nuits de l'underground (Nights in the Underground) – 1978
  • Le sourd dans la ville (Deaf to the City) – 1979
  • Visions d'Anna ou Le vertige (Anna's World) – 1982
  • Sommeil d'hiver (Wintersleep) – 1984
  • Pierre, la guerre du printemps (Pierre) – 1984
  • L'Île (The Island) – 1988
  • L'Ange de la solitude (The Angel of Solitude) – 1989
  • L'exilé; Les voyageurs sacrés (The Exile, and the Sacred Travellers) – 1992
  • Parcours d'un écrivain: Notes américaines (American Notebooks: A Writer's Journey) – 1993
  • Soifs series (1995–2018)
  • Soifs (These Festive Nights) – 1995
  • Dans la foudre et la lumière (Thunder and Light) – 2001
  • Augustino et le chœur de la déstruction (Augustino and the Choir of Destruction) – 2005
  • Naissance de Rebecca à l'ère des tourments (Rebecca, Born in the Maelstrom) – 2008
  • Mai au bal des prédateurs (Mai at the Predators' Ball) – 2010
  • Le jeune homme sans avenir (Nothing for You Here, Young Man) – 2012
  • Aux jardins des Acacias (The Acacia Gardens) – 2014
  • Le festin au crépuscule (A Twilight Celebration) – 2015
  • Des chants pour Angel (Songs for Angel) - 2017
  • Une réunion près de la mer - 2018
  • The Collected Radio Drama of Marie-Claire Blais – 2007
  • Petites Cendres ou la capture - 2020
  • Un cœur habité de mille voix (Nights Too Short to Dance) - 2021
  • Augustino ou l'illumination - 2022

Awards and honours

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