Louise Maheux-Forcier (June 9, 1929 – February 5, 2015) was a

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author. She was born in

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and was educated at the École supérieure Sainte-Croix and then went on to study music at the

Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec The Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec (, CMADQ) is a public network of nine state-subsidised schools offering higher education in music and theatre in Quebec, Canada. The organization was established in 1942 as a branch of th ...

. From 1952 to 1954, she studied piano with

Yves Nat Yves Philippe Avit Nat (29 December 1890 – 31 August 1956) was a French pianist and composer. Biography Nat was born in Béziers and showed an early aptitude for both piano and composition. By the age of seven he was allowed to improvise each ...

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. Beginning in 1959, however, she decided to concentrate on writing. Her first novel ''Amadou'', published in 1963, explored the then-taboo subject of

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

ism. The novel was awarded the

Prix du Cercle du livre de France The Prix du Cercle du livre de France is a literary prize created by the Quebec publishing house Le Cercle du livre de France with the aim of promoting Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest ...

. Other novels followed: * ''L'Île joyeuse'' (1965) translated as ''Isle of Joy'' (1987) * ''Une Forêt pour Zoé'' (1969), received 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 ...

* ''Paroles et musique'' (1973) * ''Appassionata'' (1978) She produced a collection of short stories, ''En toutes lettres'' (1980), She wrote a number of dramas that were broadcast on the radio and on television by Radio Canada. Her teleplay ''Ariosa'' was rejected by Radio-Canada in 1973 because of its lesbian themes, but was eventually produced and aired by the network in 1982.

W. H. New William Herbert New (born March 28, 1938) is a Canadian poet and literary critic. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he was educated at John Oliver Secondary School, where he received one of the top matriculation exam scores in British Columbia ...

, ''Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada''.

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calendar. Its first s ...

, 2002; . Entry "Maheux-Forcier, Louise", p. 699. In 1974, she was named writer in residence 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 ...

. She was admitted to the

Académie des lettres du Québec The Académie des lettres du Québec is a national academy for Quebec writers. It was founded as the Académie canadienne-française in 1944 by Victor Barbeau and a group of writers. In 1992 it changed its name to the Académie des lettres du Québ ...

in 1982. In 1985, she was named to the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

. In 1986, she was admitted to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

Translation

* in German, transl. Yvonne Petter-Zimmer: ''Verschwiegenheit,'' in: ''Frauen in Kanada. Erzählungen und Gedichte.'' dtv, Munich 1993 (''La discretion,'' in: ''En toutes lettres.'' Editions Pierre Tiseyre, 1980)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maheux-Forcier, Louise 1929 births 2015 deaths Canadian women novelists Canadian women dramatists and playwrights Members of the Order of Canada Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Journalists from Montreal Canadian lesbian writers Canadian LGBTQ novelists Canadian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Canadian radio writers Canadian women radio writers Governor General's Award–winning fiction writers 20th-century Canadian women writers Canadian novelists in French Canadian dramatists and playwrights in French Place of death missing Canadian women non-fiction writers Canadian women television writers Canadian television writers Lesbian screenwriters Lesbian dramatists and playwrights Lesbian novelists 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people Screenwriters from Quebec Novelists from Montreal