Herménégilde Chiasson
Categories: Male Authors - Francophone Authors - Novelists - Dramatists - Southeast
Source: Éditions Karo
Biography
Born in 1946, in Saint-Simon, on New Brunswick’s Acadian Peninsula, Herménégilde Chiasson is considered one of the foremost artisans of modern Acadian society. He holds bachelor degrees from the Université de Moncton and Mount Allison University, a Master of Fine Arts from State University of New York and a Ph.D. from the Université de Paris 1 (Sorbonne). He has worked as a researcher, a journalist and radio and television director for Radio-Canada, a film director and a professor at the Université de Moncton. He has published more than 25 books, written around 30 plays, produced 15 films and participated in close to 150 exhibitions. He has been president and founder of several major cultural organizations in New Brunswick and has received many awards and distinctions for his work. In 2003, he became the 29th Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick and the third Acadian to hold this position.
How has New Brunswick influenced your work?
I believe that, through its landscape, history and struggle to affirm its Francophone dimension, Acadian New Brunswick has been fundamental to all I have written and continue to write. I see New Brunswick as a project, a mosaic, a sort of patchwork quilt to which we all bring pieces that make a whole. We are a reflection of Canada and we experience the very same contradictions, the same limits and the same challenges. I believe this sense of rootedness is essential to my writing and creates a sort of urgency that motivates me from within and that I lose when I am away from it.
What is your favourite New Brunswick book, and why?
Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards. For the modernity, deep humanity and generosity with which he deals with his (our) world.
What do you consider to be the highlight of your career so far?
Having been able to live here and produce a body of work I consider sometimes modest, sometimes obscure, but always necessary to my balance as an artist, as a human being, but also and especially as a witness to a community of people with whom I share everyday life and hopes.
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Literary prizes |
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| Honorary Doctorate, Laurentian University, Sudbury - 2008 | |
| Prix Champlain, Salon international du livre de Québec - 2008 | In recognition of: Béatitudes |
| Grand Prix International de poésie de Langue Française Léopold Sédar Senghor - 2006 | |
| Gascon-Thomas Award, National Theatre School of Canada - 2006 | |
| Prix Montfort en littérature - 2004 | |
| Honorary Doctorate, Mount Allison University - 2004 | |
| Order of New Brunswick - 2004 | |
| Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary International - 2004 | |
| Prix Quinquennal Antonine-Maillet-Acadie Vie - 2003 | |
| Centre for Research on French Canadian Culture Prize - 2003 | |
| Prix Masque (co-authors Robert Marinier and Dominick Parenteau-Lebeuf) - 2003 | In recognition of: Univers |
| Ordre du mérite, Université de Moncton - 2003 | |
| Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal - 2003 | |
| Pascal Poirier Award for Excellence in French Language Literary Arts (New Brunswick) - 2002 | |
| Member of l’Académie mondiale de la poésie - 2001 | |
| Nomination - Prix Masque - 2001 | In recognition of: Pour une fois |
| Prix Éloizes, artiste de l’année en littérature - 2000 | In recognition of: Brunante |
| Prix Eloizes, artiste de l’année en théâtre - 2000 | In recognition of: Pour une fois |
| Nomination - Prix Masque - 2000 | In recognition of: Laurie ou la vie de galerie |
| Governor General’s Literary Awards - 1999 | In recognition of: Conversations |
| Grand Prix de la Francophonie canadienne - 1999 | |
| Honorary Doctorate of Literature, Université de Moncton - 1999 | |
| Nomination - Governor General’s Literary Awards - 1996 | In recognition of: Climats |
| Prix de poésie Terrasses Saint-Sulpice - 1996 | In recognition of: Miniatures |
| Award for Excellence in Film from the Province of New Brunswick - 1993 | |
| Ordre des francophones d’Amérique - 1993 | |
| Prix France-Acadie - 1992 | In recognition of: VOUS et l’ensemble de l’œuvre |
| Nomination - Governor General’s Literary Awards - 1991 | In recognition of: VOUS |
| Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, by the French Government - 1990 |
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Featured Publication |
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Solstices (2009) |
Excerpt: Soudainement il est très tard et le sort a fait en sorte qu’il faut rentrer. Vous déblayez la voiture. C’est la première neige et le blanc s’est accumulé sur le monde pendant que vous faisiez autre chose. Avec nonchalence et agacement vous faites apparaître les vitres, les couleurs et ce qui reste du monde, de l’état où vous l’aviez laissé la dernière fois où vous vous en étiez servi. Vous n’oubliez pas qu’il est tard, trop tard pour repenser au plan initial de cette journée. Ce qu’il aurait fallu faire. Ce qui n’a pas été fait. Ce qu’il faudra reprendre, revoir, refaire. Vous êtes avec des gens. Vous devriez être heureux de partager leur enthousiasme à l’idée de se déplacer, de faire une trajectoire, d’écrire votre vie toute neuve dans ces traces toutes noires que d’autres ont écrites sur cette ville toute blanche. La journée a été longue. Le silence s’installe dans la voiture. Vous revient à l’esprit l’idée que vous n’avez plus envie de marcher. |
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Find this author in the New Brunswick public libraries catalogue.
Source(s): Author
