Gail Scott (born 1945) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

novelist, short story writer, essayist and translator,"The Conversationalist: Interview With Gail Scott"
'' Maisonneuve'', October 28, 2010. best known for her work in experimental forms such as

prose poetry Prose poetry is poetry written in prose form instead of verse form, while preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery, parataxis, and emotional effects. Characteristics Prose poetry is written as prose, without the line breaks associ ...

and

New Narrative New Narrative is a movement and theory of experimental writing launched in San Francisco in the late 1970s by Robert Glück and Bruce Boone. New Narrative strove to represent subjective experience honestly without pretense that a text can be absol ...

."Writing-Translating (from) the In-Between: An Interview with Gail Scott"
''

Studies in Canadian Literature ''Studies in Canadian Literature/Études en littérature canadienne'' (''SCL/ÉLC'') is a bilingual journal of peer reviewed literary criticism published out of the University of New Brunswick.

'', Volume 31, Number 2 (2006). She was a major contributor to 1980s Québécoise feminist language theory, known as ''écriture au féminin,'' which explores the relationship between language, bodies, and feminist politics. Many of her novels and stories deal with fragmentation in time, in subjects, and in narrative structures.

Biography

Born in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

in 1945,Lianne Moyes, ''Gail Scott: Essays on Her Works''.

Guernica Editions Guernica Editions is a Canadian independent publisher established in Montreal, Quebec, in 1978, by Antonio D'Alfonso. Guernica specializes in Canadian literature Canadian literature is the literature of a multicultural country, written in ...

, 2002. . p. 231. Scott was raised in a bilingual community in rural Eastern Ontario and educated in English and Modern Languages and French literature at

Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to: *Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK **Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950) **Queen's University of Belfast ...

and the

University of Grenoble The Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA, French: meaning "''Grenoble Alps University''") is a public research university in Grenoble, France. Founded in 1339, it is the third largest university in France with about 60,000 students and over 3,000 resea ...

, respectively, before moving to

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 ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in 1967, where she was involved in leftist and ''indépendantiste'' movements of the 1970s. Initially working as a journalist, she was a founding editor of publications such as ''The Last Post'', ''Des luttes et des rires des femmes'', ''Spirale'' and ''Tessera''. Beginning in 1980, she taught journalism at

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

until 1991, and published novels and essay collections. Many of Scott's works explore her experience as an anglophone involved in Québécoise political and literary movements. Scott, along with other Québecoise feminist literary theorists like Nicole Brossard and

France Théoret France Théoret (born 1942) is a Canadian feminist, author, poet, and teacher. Biography France Théoret was born in Montreal, Quebec on October 17, 1942. Although she grew up in a house without many books, she discovered she loved to write in ...

, published ''La théorie, un dimanche,'' a collection of essays and creative work that explores the gendered writing subject in language. Her prose work draws heavily on poetic forms and structures, and was anthologized in ''Prismatic Publics: Innovative Canadian Women's Poetry and Poetics'' (2009). In an interview published on ''Lemon Hound,'' Scott said: "I like to think of each sentence—as much as possible—as a performative unit. A call. The space between the sentences is where the audience or reader bridges with her energy, and in her way, the gap. My debt to poetry has to do with resisting the passive reader." Her works have been noted for their experimental sentence structures and their emphasis on syntax. She was a nominee for 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

2001 Governor General's Awards The 2001 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were presented by Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada, at a ceremony at Rideau Hall on November 14. Each winner received a cheque for $15,000. English-language finalists Fiction *Ric ...

for ''The Sailor's Disquiet'', her translation of

Michael Delisle Michael Delisle (born 1959 in Longueuil) is a Canadian writer from Quebec. He is a two-time nominee for the Governor General's Award for French-language fiction, for ''Le sort de fille'' at the 2006 Governor General's Awards and for ''Le Feu de mo ...

's ''Le Désarroi du matelot''. She has also published translations of Delisle's ''Helen avec un secret'', Lise Tremblay's ''La danse juive'' and

's ''Laurence''. She has been a two-time nominee for the Quebec Writers' Federation Awards, for ''Heroine'' in 1988 and for ''Main Brides'' in 1993. With Mary Burger, Robert Glück and Camille Roy, she was a coeditor of ''Biting the Error: Writers Explore Narrative'', which was a Lambda Literary Award nominee for Non-Fiction Anthologies at the

17th Lambda Literary Awards The 17th Lambda Literary Awards were held in 2005 to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2004. Special awards Nominees and winners External links 17th Lambda Literary Awards {{Lambda Literary Awards Lambda Literary Awards Lambda ...

in 2005. Her novel ''The Obituary'' was a shortlisted nominee for the 2011 Grand Prix du livre de Montreal. She is an out

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, and many of her works challenge heteronormative language structures and/or depict lesbian relationships.

Works

Novels

*''Heroine'' (Talonbooks, 1987; ) *''Main Brides'' (Coach House, 1993; ) *''My Paris'' (The Mercury Press, 1999; Dalkey Archive, 2003; ) *''The Obituary'' (Coach House, 2010; )

Short stories and essays

* "Elisabeth Rides Again." ''Journal of Canadian Fiction'' 30 (1980): 89-105. * "Petit Larcin." Trans. Roger Des Roches. ''La Nouvelle barre du jour'' 107 (Nov. 1981): 53-60. * ''Spare Parts'' (1981). Expanded as ''Spare Parts Plus Two'' (2002, ) * ''La théorie, un dimanche'' (with

Louky Bersianik Louky Bersianik (14 November 1930 – 3 December 2011) was the pen name of Lucile Durand, a French-Canadian novelist. She studied French literature at the Université de Montréal, the Sorbonne, and the Centre d'études de radio et de télévisi ...

, Nicole Brossard,

Louise Cotnoir Louise Cotnoir (born December 6, 1948) is a Canadian writer living in Quebec. Biography She was born in Sorel and received a bachelor's degree in literary studies from the Université du Québec à Montréal and a master's degree in medieval stu ...

Louise Dupré Louise Dupré (born July 9, 1949) is a Quebec poet and novelist. The daughter of Cécile Paré and Arthur Dupré, she was born in Sherbrooke and was educated at the Université de Sherbrooke and the Université de Montréal, receiving a PhD in li ...

and

) (1988, ) * ''Spaces Like Stairs'' (1989, ) * "'The Kiss' by Edvard Munch, Revisited." ''The Massachusetts Review'' 31 (Spring-Summer 1990): 125-31. * "There's No Such Thing as Repetition." ''Books in Canada'' 23.5 (Summer 1994): cover, 8-11. * Editor of ''Biting the Error: Writers Explore Narrative'' (with Bob Gluck, Camille Roy, and Mary Burger) (2004, )

Translations

* ''Laurence'' by

(1998) * ''The Sailor’s Disquiet'' by

(2002) * ''Helen with a Secret'' by Michael Delisle (2002) * ''Mile End'' by Lise Tremblay (2002

References

External links

* * Archives of Gail Scot
(Gail Scott fonds, R11790)
are held at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Gail 1945 births Living people Canadian women novelists Canadian women poets Canadian feminist writers 20th-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian women short story writers Canadian lesbian writers Writers from Montreal Queen's University at Kingston alumni Writers from Ottawa Academic staff of Concordia University Anglophone Quebec people 20th-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century Canadian translators 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian essayists 21st-century Canadian essayists Canadian women essayists 21st-century Canadian LGBT people 20th-century Canadian LGBT people