François Ricard

François Ricard (4 June 1947 – 17 February 2022) was a Canadian writer and academic from Quebec.^[1] He was a professor of French literature at McGill University since 1980, including a special but not exclusive focus on the work of Milan Kundera and Gabrielle Roy,^[2] and has published numerous works of non-fiction.

François Ricard
Ricard in 2017
Born	(1947-06-04)4 June 1947 Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada
Died	17 February 2022(2022-02-17) (aged 74) Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Occupation	Writer, academic
Notable works	La littérature contre elle-même, Gabrielle Roy, une vie
Notable awards	Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize

Biography

Born and raised in Shawinigan,^[2] Ricard was educated at McGill University and the University of Provence.^[2]

He was a founder of the literary journal Liberté,^[2] has served on the editorial boards of the publishing houses Éditions Sentier and Éditions du Boréal,^[2] and has contributed to both Radio-Canada and Télé-Québec as a literature reviewer and a host of documentary programming on Quebec literature and history.^[2]

Ricard died in Montreal on 17 February 2022, at the age of 74.^[3][4]

Awards

He won the Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction at the 1985 Governor General's Awards for La littérature contre elle-même,^[1] and Gabrielle Roy: A Life, an English translation by Patricia Claxton of his 1996 book Gabrielle Roy, une vie, won the 1999 Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize^[5] and the Governor General's Award for French to English translation at the 1999 Governor General's Awards.^[6] The original French edition of Gabrielle Roy, une vie was a shortlisted nominee for the Governor General's Award at the 1997 Governor General's Awards,^[7] and Le dernier après-midi d’Agnès: essai sur l’oeuvre de Milan Kundera was nominated at the 2003 Governor General's Awards.^[8]

Works

• L'art de Félix-Antoine Savard dans « Menaud, maître-draveur », 1972
• Gabrielle Roy, 1972
• Une liaison parisienne, 1980
• Le Prince et la Ténèbre, 1980
• L'Incroyable odyssée, 1981
• La Littérature contre elle-même, 1985
• Guide de la littérature québécoise, 1988
• La Chasse-galerie et autres récits, 1989
• La Génération lyrique, 1992
  • English translation The Lyric Generation, 1994
• René Richard : 1895-1982, 1993
• Gabrielle Roy : une vie, 1996
  • English translation Gabrielle Roy: A Life, 1999
• Le Temps qui m'a manqué, 1997
• Le Pays de Bonheur d'occasion et autres récits autobiographiques épars et inédits
• Introduction à l'œuvre de Gabrielle Roy : 1945-1975, 2001
• (éd.) Gabrielle Roy, Mon cher grand fou, 2001
• Le Dernier Après-midi d'Agnès : essai sur l'œuvre de Milan Kundera, 2003
• Chroniques d'un temps loufoque, 2005
• Moeurs de province, 2014