Matchewan Noël (August 17, 1944 – April 12, 2021) was a Canadian civil servant and award-winning writer of Algonquin descent from the Outaouais region of

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 ...

. The son of Jean-Marechal Noël, he was born in Messines and grew up in the La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve and in the

Maniwaki Maniwaki is a town located north of Gatineau and north-west of Montreal, in the province of Quebec, Canada. The town is situated on the Gatineau River, at the crossroads of Quebec Route 105, Route 105 and Quebec Route 107, Route 107, not far south ...

and Abitibi regions of Quebec. He received a BEd from the École normale de Hull, then a BA and MA from

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxemb ...

. In 1983, he completed a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

; his thesis was on First Nations gastronomy in the 16th and 17th centuries. From 1977 to 1980, Noël was director of the Service de l'artisanat et des métiers d'art for the Quebec Ministry of Culture. He continued to serve in various positions in the same department and most recently has been a coordinator for First Nations affairs. In terms of creative output, he wrote novels, poetry, reference works, stories and plays for young audiences and articles which have appeared in various specialty magazines. During the 1980s, Noël wrote an acclaimed series of books based on First Nations stories, ''Les Papinachois''. He was also a narrator for several films. Noël led workshops in schools, colleges and universities, and taken part in various conferences on First Nations issues. He was named a ''chevalier'' in the French

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

in 2003 for promoting French language and culture. In 1998, he was named a Global Citizen by the United Nations Association in Canada. In 2008, he was awarded the in the Francophonie category. He was named a ''chevalier'' in the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as ''l'Ordre national du Québec'', and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is an order of merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Gove ...

in 2011. In 2012, Noël was a finalist for the

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award ( sv, Litteraturpriset till Astrid Lindgrens minne) is an international children's literary award established by the Swedish government in 2002 to honour the Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren (1907–200 ...

Selected works

* ''Pien'', youth fiction (1996), in 1997, received the Governor General's Award for French-language children's literature * ''La ligne de trappe'' (1998), received the * ''Journal d’un bon à rien'' (1999), translated as ''Good for nothing'' (2004), received the Geoffrey Bilson Award * (2000) * ''Hiver indien'' (2001) * ''Le Kitchimanitou'' (2003) * ''Hush! Hush!'' (2004) * ''Nishka'' (2009), finalist for a Governor General's Award * ''À la recherche du bout du monde'' (2012), received the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award *''Métis'' (2019)

References

External links

Fonds Michel Noël (R13134)
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 ...

1944 births 2021 deaths Algonquin people Governor General's Award-winning children's writers Writers from Quebec Quebec civil servants Canadian people who self-identify as being of First Nations descent Canadian poets in French Knights of the National Order of Quebec Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 20th-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian children's writers in French {{Canada-poet-stub