Judith Cowan 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 ...

academic and writer. Judith Elaine Cowan was born in

Sydney, Nova Scotia Sydney is a former city and urban community on the east coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Sydney was founded in 1785 by the British, was incorporated as a city in 1904, and dissolv ...

, and grew up in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. She attended

West Hill Collegiate Institute , motto_translation = I rise into the light , founded = , schoolboard = Toronto District School Board , superintendent = Sheryl Robinson Petrazzini , trustee = Zakir Patel , number = 4184 ...

before studying at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

and at the

Université de Sherbrooke The University of Sherbrooke ( French: Université de Sherbrooke) (UdS) is a large public French-language university in Quebec, Canada with campuses located in Sherbrooke and Longueuil, a suburb of Montreal approximately west of Sherbrooke. It ...

. She taught English language literature at the

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières The Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) (''English: University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières''), also known as "l'université du peuple", established in 1969 and mainly located in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada, is a public universi ...

. She has translated poetry written by Quebec authors into English for the magazine ''Ellipse'' as well as translating other works by French authors. Her short stories have appeared in literary magazines such as ''Quarry'', ''

Queen's Quarterly ''Queen's Quarterly'' is a Canadian quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of cultural studies that was established in 1893 by, among others, George Munro Grant, Sanford Fleming, and John Watson, all of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario ...

'', ''

The Malahat Review ''The Malahat Review'' is a Canadian quarterly literary magazine established in 1967. It features contemporary Canadian and international works of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction as well as reviews of recently published Canadian litera ...

'', ''

The Fiddlehead ''The Fiddlehead'' is a Canadian literary magazine, published four times annually at the University of New Brunswick. It is the oldest Canadian literary magazine which is still in circulation. History and profile ''The Fiddlehead'' was establis ...

'' and ''

The Antigonish Review ''The Antigonish Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine publishing new and established contemporary literary fiction, reviews, non-fiction articles/essays, translations, and poetry. Since 2005, the magazine runs an annual competition, the Sheld ...

'' and, in translation, in the magazines '' L'Atelier du roman'', ''Liberté'' and XYZ''.

Selected works

* ''Quartz and Mica'', translated from ''Quartz et mica'' by Yolande Villemaire (1987), finalist for the

John Glassco Translation Prize The John Glassco Translation Prize is an annual Canadian literary award, presented by the Literary Translators' Association of Canada to a book judged the year's best translation into either English or French of a work originally written in any ...

* ''This Desert Now'', translated from ''Le désert maintenant'' by Yves Préfontaine (1993) * ''More Than Life Itself'', short stories (1997), translated into French as ''Plus que la vie même'' (2000), received the * ''Gambler's Fallacy'', short stories (2001), translated into French as ''La loi des grands nombres'' (2003), received the * ''Mirabel'' translated from ''Lignes aériennes'' by

Pierre Nepveu Pierre Nepveu (born 16 September 1946 in Montreal, Quebec) is a French Canadian poet, novelist and essayist. As a scholar, he specializes in modern Quebec poetry, in particular the work of Gaston Miron. He taught at the French Studies Departm ...

(2004), received 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 ...

* ''Meridian Line'', translated from ''Origine des méridiens'' by Paul Bélanger (2011), finalist for the Governor General's Award for Translation

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian women short story writers Governor General's Award-winning translators University of Toronto alumni York University alumni Université de Sherbrooke alumni 20th-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century Canadian translators 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian women writers Canadian women non-fiction writers {{Canada-translator-stub