Pierre DesRuisseaux (7 July 1945 – 18 January 2016) was a Canadian poet. He was named the fourth Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate on April 28, 2009. DesRuisseaux graduated with a degree in philosophy from the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

. DesRuisseaux previously won the Governor General's Award for French language poetry in 1989 for his collection ''Monème''. He was also nominated for the

Governor General's Award for English to French translation This is a list of recipients of the Governor General's Award for English-to-French translation awarded by the Governor-General of Canada. Winners and nominees 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s References {{Governor General's Literar ...

in 1996 for ''Contre-taille'', an anthology of translated poetry by English Canadian writers. DesRuisseaux was born in

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. "His career-long fascination with Canada's literary traditions and history make him an excellent choice to engage us, as Canadians, in dialogue about the importance of verse in our national culture," Speaker of the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, they compose the Bicameralism, bicameral le ...

Noel Kinsella said about DesRuisseaux. DesRuisseaux wrote the ''Livre des proverbes québécois'' and ''Dictionnaire des expressions québécoises'', chosen by the Quebec Association for Intercultural Education as a work representative of Quebec's popular culture. On 18 January 2016, he died at the age of 70. In 2017, it was revealed that in his volume of French language poetry, ''Tranches De Vie,'' DesRuisseaux had plagiarized a number of English language authors, including

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credi ...

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

Louis MacNeice Frederick Louis MacNeice (12 September 1907 – 3 September 1963) was an Irish poet, playwright and producer for the BBC. Known for its exploration of introspection, empiricism, and belonging, his poetic work is now ranked among the twentieth ...

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German Americans, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambien ...

, Ted Kooser, and

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

. For some critics, the notion of plagiarism appears doubtful in this case.Kevin Lambert, "Pierre DesRuisseaux, plagiaire!", Liberté. Art & Politique, 319 (March 2018), 73; Thierry Bissonnette and Lucien Pelletier, "Pierre DesRuisseaux: la paille et la poutre", Spirale. Arts, lettres & sciences humaines, 263 (Winter 2018), 6-9.

References

External links

Pierre DesRuisseaux at the Parliament of Canada website
1945 births 2016 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets Governor General's Award–winning poets Canadian parliamentary poets laureate Writers from Sherbrooke 21st-century Canadian poets Canadian poets in French 20th-century Canadian translators 21st-century Canadian translators 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male non-fiction writers Poets from Quebec {{Canada-poet-stub