| Intro | Canadian poet |
| Is |
Activist Poet Writer Feminist |
| From | Canada |
| Type |
Activism Literature |
| Gender | female |
| Birth | 27 November 1943, Montreal |
| Age: | 76 years |
| Residence | Montreal |
Nicole Brossard, O.C. (born November 27, 1943) is a leading French-Canadian formalist poet and novelist.
She lives in Outremont, a suburb of Montreal, Canada.
Life and work
Brossard wrote her first collection in 1965, Aube à la saison. The collection L’Echo bouge beau marked a break in the evolution of her poetry that included an open and active participation in numerous cultural events (such as poetry recitals). In 1975, she participated in a meeting of writers on women, a point marking both a more activist role in the feminist struggle and writing a poetry that becomes more personal in tone and subjectivity. There are two poles in her writing, both aesthetic and political: on the one hand its modernism and avant-gardism; and on the other a sensual and activist writing that shows a commitment to a feminist consciousness.
Brossard founded a feminist newspaper, Les têtes de pioches, and wrote a play Le nef des sorcières (first performed in 1976). In 1982, she founded a publishing house: L’Intégrale éditrice.
The Nicole Brossard archives are located in downtown Montreal at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.
Selected bibliography
- Aube à la saison – 1965
- Mordre en sa chair – 1966
- L’écho bouge beau – 1968
- Suite logique – 1970
- Un livre – 1970 (translated in English as A Book)
- Le centre blanc – 1970
- Mécanique jongleuse – 1974 (translated in English as Day-Dream Mechanics; winner of the 1974 Governor General’s Award for Poetry)
- La partie pour le tout – 1975
- Sold-Out, étreinte / illustration – (1973) 1977
- L’amèr ou le Chapitre effrité – 1977(translated in English as These Our Mothers)
- French kiss, étreinte / exploration – (1974) 1979
- Les sens apparent – 1980 (translated in English as Surfaces of Sense)
- Amantes – 1980 (translated in English as Lovhers; nominated for a Governor General’s Award)
- Journal intime – 1984
- Double impression – 1984 (winner of the 1984 Governor General’s Award for Poetry)
- Domaine d’écriture – 1985
- La lettre aérienne – 1985 (translated in English as The Aerial Letter)
- Le désert mauve – 1987 (translated in English as Mauve Desert)
- L’amer – 1988
- Installations: avec sans pronoms – 1989
- A tout regard – 1989
- La nuit verte du parc labyrinthe – 1992
- Langues obscures – 1992
- Baroque d’aube – 1995 (translated in English as Baroque at Dawn)
- Vertige de l’avant-scène – 1997 (nominated for a Governor General’s Award)
- Au présent des veins – 1999
- Musée de l’os et de l’eau – 1999 (translated into English as Museum of Bone and Water; nominated for a Governor General’s Award;)
- Hier – 2001 (translated in English as Yesterday, at the Hotel Clarendon)
- Cahier de roses & de civilisation – 2003 (nominated for a Governor General’s Award)
- English translations
- These Our Mothers– 1983; translated by Barbara Godard
- Baroque at Dawn – 1997
- Museum of Bone and Water – 2005
- Fluid Arguments – 2005
- Yesterday, at the Hotel Clarendon – 2006
- Picture Theory – 2006
- Mauve Desert – 2006
- Notebook of Roses and Civilization – 2007; translation by Robert Majzels and Erin Moure, shortlisted for the 2008 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize
- Fences in Breathing – 2009
- Nicole Brossard: Selections – 2010; edited by Jennifer Moxley for the series: Poets for the Millennium from University of California Press
- White Piano – 2013; translation by Robert Majzels and Erin Moure, shortlisted for the 2014 Best Translated Book Award
- Chad W. Post (April 14, 2014). “2014 Best Translated Book Awards: Poetry Finalists”. Three Percent. Retrieved April 16, 2014.