Louise Maheux-Forcier (June 9, 1929 – February 5, 2015) was a Quebec author.[1][2]
Louise Maheux-Forcier (June 9, 1929 – February 5, 2015) was a Quebec author.[1][2]
She was born in Montreal, the daughter of Louis-Alfred Maheux, a banker, and Cecile Giguere. Maheux-Forcier was educated at École supérieure Sainte-Croix. Maheux-Forcier attended Quebec Conservatoire de Musique et d’Art Dramatique for 5 years from 1946, she then attended Academie de Musique de Quebec from 1951 to 1952. She studied piano under Yves Nat at the Conservatoire de Paris, for 2 years from 1952. Maheux-Forcier was also educated at the University of Montreal in 1954.
Louise Maheux married Marcel Forcier on October 8, 1955.
Maheux- Forcier made her mark upon French-Canadian literature through both novels and plays for radio and television. She has reworked some of her novels into plays, and several of her plays have been published in book form. Many of her novels and plays contain themes of lesbianism and ménagés a trois. Because of this her work had been the subject of some controversy in her native province, especially during the early portion of her career. In addition to the aforementioned novels, Maheux-Forcier’s volumes in English translation include Isle of Joy, Words and Music and a collection of short stories titled Letter by Letter. Some of Maheux-Forcier’s better-known radio and television plays include Arioso, Un Arbre charge d’oiseaux and Un Parc en Automne—the last title had been performed not only on radio and television, but on stage in Montreal, Quebec.
As a pianist, she took part in the famous Concours du Prix d’Europe. Maheux-Forcier gave up the piano for writing in 1959, however, because of the acute stage fright that plagued her public performances. However, her musical training remained an abiding influence upon her written work.
Her book Amadou saw print in 1963. Maheux-Forcier followed Amadou with a novel Isle of Joy (1964). A Forest for Zoe, was printed in 1969. A Forest for Zoe or, as more accurately referenced by the French title, Une Foret pour Zoe, was the second play that Maheux-Forcier performed on Radio-Canada. The first production was Neiges et palmiers in 1970. Her first play to be televised was Un Arbre charge d'oiseaux (1975). It was later published in book form. Another of Maheux-Forcier’s well-known television efforts is Arioso, which was seen by French Canadian audiences in 1982. Another radio play, 1979’s Le Papier d’Armenie, saw print in the same volume as Arioso.
Though Maheux-Forcier penned a steady stream of works for Canadian television and radio during the 1970s and 1980s, she did not give up writing novels. Words and Music became available to French-language readers in 1973, but did not reach readers of English until 1990. Maheux-Forcier’s novel Appassionato was published in 1978.
Maheux-Forcier also writes short fiction. Her stories have appeared in Ecrits du Canada Francois and Le Devoir, and in 1980 she also published the short story collection, Letter by Letter. The short fictions comprising Letter by Letter are built around the concept of having a story for each letter of the alphabet.
Maheux-Forcier received prestigious awards for her literary efforts, including the Prix du Cercle du livre de France for her first novel Amadou. David Lobdell, who translated much of Maheux-Forcier’s fiction into English, declared in an article for Essays on Canadian Writing that Amadou was one of the finest love stories yet written in French Canada. Maheux-Forcier also won Canada’s Governor General’s Award for fiction for her third novel A Forest for Zoe.
In 1986, Maheux-Forcier was admitted to the Order of Canada.
My published books:
