François Ricard (4 June 1947 – 17 February 2022) was a Canadian writer and academic from Quebec."François Ricard: comme une grande province tranquille"
'' La Presse'', March 22, 2014. He was a professor of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

since 1980, including a special but not exclusive focus on the work of

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himself ...

and

Gabrielle Roy Gabrielle Roy (March 22, 1909July 13, 1983) was a Canadian author from St. Boniface, Manitoba and one of the major figures in French Canadian literature. Early life Roy was born in 1909 in Saint-Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba, and ...

, and has published numerous works of

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

Biography

Born and raised in

Shawinigan Shawinigan () is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 49,349 as of the 2016 Canadian census. Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) an ...

,François Ricard
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available fo ...

Ricard was educated at

and the

University of Provence The University of Provence Aix-Marseille I (french: Université de Provence) was a public research university mostly located in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. It was one of the three Universities of Aix-Marseille and was part of the Academy of ...

. He was a founder of the literary journal ''Liberté'', has served on the editorial boards of the publishing houses Éditions Sentier and Éditions du Boréal, and has contributed to both

Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

and

Télé-Québec The Société de télédiffusion du Québec (; en, Quebec Television Broadcasting Corporation), branded as Télé-Québec (), is a Canadian French-language public educational television network in the province of Quebec. It is a provincial Cro ...

as a literature reviewer and a host of documentary programming on Quebec literature and history. Ricard died in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

on 17 February 2022, at the age of 74.

Awards

He won the

Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction The Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a non-fiction book written in French. It is one of fourteen Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit, sev ...

at the 1985 Governor General's Awards for ''La littérature contre elle-même'', and ''Gabrielle Roy: A Life'', an English translation by Patricia Claxton of his 1996 book ''Gabrielle Roy, une vie'', won the 1999

Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize The Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize was a Canadian literary award, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to a work judged as the year's best work of biography, autobiography or personal memoir by a Canadian writer."$10,000 biography award launch ...

"Ricard wins biography prize". ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', November 10, 1999. and the

Governor General's Award for French to English translation This is a list of recipients of the Governor General's Award for French-to-English translation. Winners and nominees 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s References {{Governor General's Literary Awards * Translation awar ...

at the

1999 Governor General's Awards The winners of the 1999 Governor General's Literary Awards were announced by Jean-Louis Roux, chairman, and Shirley Thomson, director of the Canada Council, Canada Council for the Arts, at a press conference held on November 16 at the National Libr ...

. The original French edition of ''Gabrielle Roy, une vie'' was a shortlisted nominee for the Governor General's Award at the 1997 Governor General's Awards, and ''Le dernier après-midi d’Agnès: essai sur l’oeuvre de Milan Kundera'' was nominated at the 2003 Governor General's Awards."Atwood's novel gets third citation". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', October 21, 2003.

Works

* ''L'art de

Félix-Antoine Savard Félix-Antoine Savard, (August 31, 1896 – August 24, 1982) was a Canadian priest, academic, poet, novelist and folklorist. Born in Quebec City, he grew up in Chicoutimi, Quebec. He received a Bachelor of Arts in 1918 and was ordained a pri ...

dans « Menaud, maître-draveur »'', 1972 * ''Gabrielle Roy'', 1972 * ''Une liaison parisienne'', 1980 * ''Le Prince et la Ténèbre'', 1980 * ''L'Incroyable odyssée'', 1981 * ''La Littérature contre elle-même'', 1985 * ''Guide de la littérature québécoise'', 1988 * ''La Chasse-galerie et autres récits'', 1989 * ''La Génération lyrique'', 1992 ** English translation ''The Lyric Generation'', 1994 * ''

René Richard René Richard (1 December 1895 – 31 March 1982) was Swiss-born Canadian painter known for his semi-abstract landscapes of the Canadian wilderness and of the country around Baie-Saint-Paul in Quebec. Early years René Jeanrichard (later shortene ...

: 1895-1982'', 1993 * ''Gabrielle Roy : une vie'', 1996 ** English translation ''Gabrielle Roy: A Life'', 1999 * ''Le Temps qui m'a manqué'', 1997 * ''Le Pays de Bonheur d'occasion et autres récits autobiographiques épars et inédits'' * ''Introduction à l'œuvre de Gabrielle Roy : 1945-1975'', 2001 * (éd.) Gabrielle Roy, ''Mon cher grand fou'', 2001 * ''Le Dernier Après-midi d'Agnès : essai sur l'œuvre de Milan Kundera'', 2003 * ''Chroniques d'un temps loufoque'', 2005 *''Moeurs de province'', 2014

References

External links

François Ricard
at Les Éditions du Boréal 1947 births 2022 deaths 20th-century biographers 20th-century Canadian essayists 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century biographers 21st-century Canadian essayists 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian poets French Quebecers Canadian biographers Male biographers Canadian non-fiction writers in French Writers from Quebec People from Shawinigan Academic staff of McGill University Canadian male poets Canadian male essayists McGill University alumni Governor General's Award-winning non-fiction writers {{Canada-poet-stub