Cécile Cloutier (June 13, 1930 - September 30, 2017) was a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

writer and educator. The daughter of Adrien Cloutier and Maria Lantagne, she was born in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

and studied at the Collège Jésus-Marie de Sillery, at

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, Luxe ...

and at the

Université de Paris The University of Paris (), known metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated with the cat ...

, going on to earn a doctorate from the Sorbonne and a

Master of Philosophy A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at leas ...

from

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

. She studied a variety of languages including

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and

Inuktitut Inuktitut ( ; , Inuktitut syllabics, syllabics ), also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the North American tree line, including parts of the provinces of ...

. From 1955 to 1958, she taught French literature, Latin, Greek and Spanish at the Collège des Ursulines and at Marymount College in Quebec City. She was a professor in the French department at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

from 1958 to 1964. She then taught aesthetics and French and Quebec literature at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. Cloutier founded the Canadian Society for Aesthetics (Société canadienne d'esthétique). She was a member of the

Société des gens de lettres The Société des gens de lettres de France (SGDLF; ; ) is a writers' association founded in 1838 by the notable French authors George Sand, Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, and Alexandre Dumas. It is a private association recognised in France as ...

of France and of the

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of Paris. Her collection of poems ''L'Écouté'' received the Governor General's Award for French-language poetry in 1986. Cloutier also received the silver medal of the Société des écrivains français. Her poetry has been translated into a number of languages, including English, Spanish, Danish, Polish and Ukrainian.

Selected works

* ''Cuivre et soies'', poetry (1964) * ''anthologie de poésie québécoise contemporaine'', poetry anthology (1968), editor * ''Cannelles et craies'', poetry (1969) * ''Paupières'', poetry (1970) * ''Chaleuils'', poetry (1978) * ''Springtime of spoken words'', selected poems (1979), translated by Alexandre Amprimoz

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cloutier, Cecile 1930 births 2017 deaths Canadian poets in French Governor General's Award–winning poets Franco-Ontarian people Canadian women poets 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian women writers Writers from Quebec City Université Laval alumni University of Paris alumni McMaster University alumni Academic staff of the University of Ottawa Academic staff of the University of Toronto Canadian expatriates in France Poets from Ontario Poets from Quebec