Thérèse Renaud (July 3, 1927 – December 12, 2005) was a Canadian actress and writer associated with

Les Automatistes Les Automatistes were a group of Québécois artistic dissidents from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The movement was founded in the early 1940s by painter Paul-Émile Borduas. Les Automatistes were so called because they were influenced by Surrea ...

. She was also known as Thérèse Leduc. 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 ...

. Renaud went to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1946 to study theatre. On her return to Montreal, she worked as a comedian and singer, appearing on radio and television. She returned to Paris in 1959 to work on her literary work. While there, she conducted interviews with people from the arts for Radio Canada. She worked as a professional

astrologer Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

for several years. In 1946, she published ''Les Sables du rêve'', considered to be the first Automatist work. Renaud was a signatory to the Refus Global in 1948. Renaud died in Paris at the age of 78.

Personal life

She married the artist Fernand Leduc. Renaud came from a talent family. The choreographer Jeanne Renaud and the artist Louise Renaud were her sisters. As well, her cousin, Estelle Mauffette, was a Quebec actress.

Works

* ''Les Sables du rêve'', poetry (1946) * ''Une mémoire déchirée'', memoir (1978) * ''Plaisirs immobiles'', prose and poetry (1981) * ''Subterfuge et sortilège'', prose (1988) * ''Le choc d'un murmure'', novel (1988) * ''Jardins d'éclats'', poetry (1990) * ''N'être'', poetry (1998) * ''Un passé recomposé. Deux automatistes à Paris. Témoignages 1946-1953'', memoir (2004)

References

1927 births 2005 deaths Canadian women poets Canadian women novelists 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian novelists Poets from Montreal Canadian poets in French Canadian novelists in French Canadian astrologers 20th-century astrologers 20th-century Canadian women writers Canadian women memoirists 20th-century Canadian memoirists Novelists from Montreal {{Quebec-writer-stub