Hélène Ouvrard (November 3, 1938 – January 6, 1999) was a

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writer.

Biography

The daughter of Bernadette Boily and Jean de la Salle Ouvrard, she was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and was educated at the Collège Marguerite-Bourgeoys, also studying painting at the

École des beaux-arts de Montréal École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

and studying piano. From 1968 to 1969, she worked on publicity at the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

. She was also a freelance writer for the National Film Board and for Radio Canada. She was the main editor for the series of publications ''Initiation aux métiers d'art du Québec''. Ouvrard also contributed to the magazines ''

Châtelaine ''Châtelaine'' is a French language, French-language magazine of women's lifestyles, published in Quebec by St. Joseph Communications. History and profile The magazine was first published in 1960 by Maclean-Hunter Publishing. It covers issues ...

'' and ''La Barre du jour''. She was awarded a number of grants from the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study a ...

and from the Quebec Ministry of Cultural Affairs. In 1982, she won first prize in the Radio-Canada's Concours d'oeuvres dramatiques radiophoniques. She was awarded the

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Prix de la nouvelle in 1983 for ''L'Ange''.

Radio Suisse Romande The Radio Suisse Romande (RSR) was an enterprise unit within public-broadcasting corporation SRG SSR. It was responsible for the production and transmission of French-language radio programmes in Switzerland. RSR's headquarters were situated in ...

dedicated a week to her radio plays in 1983. Ouvrard wrote the text for a book published in 1980 based on the film ''

J.A. Martin Photographer ''J.A. Martin Photographer'' (''J.A. Martin photographe'') is a 1977 drama film directed by Jean Beaudin for the National Film Board of Canada. The film was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 50th Acade ...

''. Although mainly known for her novels, she also published poetry, short stories and other prose.

Selected works

Source: * ''La fleur de peau'' (1965) * ''Le coeur sauvage'' (1967) * ''Le Corps étranger'' (1973) * ''L'herbe et le varech'' (1977) * ''La noyante'' (1980), shortlisted for the

Governor General's Award for French-language fiction The Governor General's Award for French-language fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a fiction book written in French. It is one of fourteen Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit, seven each ...

in 1980

References

1938 births 1999 deaths Canadian novelists in French Canadian women novelists Canadian women poets Canadian women short story writers 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian women writers Poets from Montreal 20th-century Canadian short story writers École des beaux-arts de Montréal alumni Novelists from Montreal {{Canada-poet-stub