Gaboriau in Montreal, Quebec, inside the Aux Écuries Theatre

Linda Gaboriau (née Johnson)[1] is a Canadian dramaturg and literary translator who has translated some 125 plays and novels by Quebec writers, including many of the Quebec plays best known to English-speaking audiences.[2]

Background

A native of Boston,[1] she moved to Montreal in 1963 to pursue her studies at McGill University where she obtained a B.A. and M.A. in French language and literature.[1] While a student, she was briefly married to a man whose surname was Gaboriau; although the marriage was short-lived, she kept his surname as her professional pen name.[1]

She has worked as a freelance journalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Radio Canada and the Montreal Gazette,[1] pursued a career in Canadian and Quebec theatre and, in the 2000s, served as the founding director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre.[3]

Work

Her translations have garnered many awards, including three Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Awards for Michel Marc Bouchard's Lilies (Les Feluettes) in 1992,[4] Normand Chaurette's The Queens (Les Reines) in 1993[5] and Bouchard's The Orphan Muses (Les Muses orphelines) in 1999;[6] the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play in 1991 for Lilies[7] and in 2000 for Michel Tremblay's For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again (Encore une fois si vous permettez);[8] three Governor General's Awards for French to English translation in 1996 for Daniel Danis's Stone and Ashes (Cendres de cailloux),[9] in 2010 for Wajdi Mouawad's Forests (Forêts)[10] and in 2019 for Mouawad's Birds of a Kind (Tous des oiseaux);[11] and the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for Drama for Bouchard's Tom at the Farm (Tom à la ferme).[12]

She was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015 [13] and Officer of the Ordre National du Québec in 2023.[14]

Personal life

Gaboriau was previously married to Montreal city councillor Nick Auf der Maur,[2] and is the mother of rock musician Melissa Auf der Maur.[15] She and her late partner of 35 years, author and professor Hervé de Fontenay, have one son, architect Yves de Fontenay.[2]

Works translated

A selected list of Gaboriau's translations includes:

  • 1983 — Saga of the Wet Hens (Jovette Marchessault, La Saga des poules mouillées)
  • 1987 — Being at Home with Claude (René-Daniel Dubois, Being at Home with Claude)
  • 1989 — Warriors (Michel Garneau, Les guerriers)
  • 1991 — Lilies (Michel Marc Bouchard, Les feluettes)
  • 1992 — The Magnificent Voyage of Emily Carr (Jovette Marchessault, Le voyage magnifique d'Emily Carr)
  • 1993 — The Eye Is an Eagle (Pierre Morency, L'Œil américain)
  • 1993 — The Orphan Muses (Michel Marc Bouchard, Les muses orphelines)
  • 1996 — American Notebooks (Marie-Claire Blais, Notes américaines/Parcours d'un écrivain)
  • 1996 — Stone and Ashes (Daniel Danis, Cendres de cailloux)
  • 1998 — That Woman (Daniel Danis, Celle-là)
  • 1998 — The Tale of Teeka (Michel Marc Bouchard, L'histoire de l'oie)
  • 1998 — Fragments of a Farewell Letter Read by Geologists (Normand Chaurette, Fragments d'une lettre d'adieu lus par des géologues)
  • 1998 — The Queens (Normand Chaurette, Les Reines)
  • 1998 — For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again (Michel Tremblay, Encore une fois, si vous le permettez)
  • 1999 — The Coronation Voyage (Michel Marc Bouchard, Le voyage du Couronnement)
  • 1999 — Song of the Say-Sayer (Daniel Danis, La chant du Dire-Dire)
  • 2000 — Down Dangerous Passes Road (Michel Marc Bouchard, Le chemin des Passes-dangereuses)
  • 2000 — All the Verdis of Venice (Normand Chaurette, Je vous écris du Caire)
  • 2002 — Impromptu on Nuns' Island (Michel Tremblay, L'État des lieux)
  • 2003 — Scattered in a Rising Wind (Jean-Marc Dalpé, Un vent se lève qui éparpille)
  • 2004 — Written on Water (Michel Marc Bouchard, Les manuscrits du déluge)
  • 2004 — Past Perfect (Michel Tremblay, Le passé antérieur)
  • 2005 — Scorched (Wajdi Mouawad, Incendies)
  • 2006 — Assorted Candies (Michel Tremblay, Bonbons assortis)
  • 2009 — Albertine in Five Times (Michel Tremblay, Albertine, en cinq temps)
  • 2010 — Forests (Wajdi Mouawad, Forêts)
  • 2013 — Heavens (Wajdi Mouawad, Ciels)
  • 2014 — Christina, The Girl King (Michel Marc Bouchard, Christine, la reine-garçon)
  • 2015 — Tom at the Farm (Michel Marc Bouchard, Tom à la ferme)
  • 2015 — The Divine, A Play for Sarah Bernhardt (Michel Marc Bouchard, La Divine illusion)
  • 2015 — Yours Forever, Marie-Lou (Michel Tremblay, À toi, pour toujours, ta Marie-Lou)
  • 2017 — Anima (Wajdi Mouawad, Anima)
  • 2019 — Birds of a Kind (Wajdi Mouawad, Tous des oiseaux)
  • 2019 — Rite of Passage (Michel Tremblay, Le Passage obligé)
  • 2022 — Kisses Deep (Michel Marc Bouchard, Embrasse)
  • 2022 — Twists of Fate (Michel Tremblay, Au hasard la chance et Les cléfs du Paradise)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Decoding the message a translator's challenge". The Globe and Mail, January 26, 1991.
  2. 1 2 3 "Just one ad lib can spoil translator's careful work". Montreal Gazette, February 9, 1991.
  3. ↑ "Translation residency takes shape". Calgary Herald, March 13, 2003.
  4. ↑ "Canadian playwrights honored". Edmonton Journal, February 25, 1992.
  5. ↑ "Chalmers honors 'working artists'". Financial Post, May 29, 1993.
  6. ↑ "Chalmers awards handed out". The Globe and Mail, May 18, 1999.
  7. ↑ "Tale of same sex love affair wins theatre award". Edmonton Journal, June 19, 1991.
  8. ↑ "Weird Doras in a strange season: Prizes notable for omissions as much as for those that won". National Post, June 27, 2000.
  9. ↑ "Governor-General's winners assail arts cuts". Edmonton Journal, November 13, 1996.
  10. ↑ "Eight Quebec writers win Governor General's prizes". Montreal Gazette, November 17, 2010.
  11. ↑ Jane van Koeverden, "Here are the winners of the 2019 Governor General's Literary Awards". CBC Books, October 29, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Canadians Trish Salah, Michel Marc Bouchard win Lambda Awards". Quill & Quire, June 3, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Seventeen Quebecers appointed to Order of Canada". Montreal Gazette, July 1, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Ordre national du Québec - cérémonie de remise des insignes 2023 - Dévoilement des récipiendaires de l'Ordre national du Québec". Gouvernement du Québec (in French). Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  15. ↑ "The woman who would be Ozzy". The Globe and Mail, June 29, 2002.
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