Denise Boucher
{{Short description|Canadian writer (1935–2025)}}
{{Infobox writer
| image = Denise Boucher (SDLM '16).jpg
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| landscape =
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|12|12}}
| birth_place = Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|3|18|1935|12|12}}
| death_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| occupation = Teacher, journalist, playwright, poet, lyricist
| language = Canadian French
| awards = Prix des lecteurs du Marché de la poésie de Montréal (2002), Prix Adagio (2015)
}}
Denise Boucher (December 12, 1935 – March 18, 2025) was a Canadian writer from Quebec.
Life and career
The daughter of Alexandre Boucher, police chief, and Justine Bélair,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mkh2vJ_9GpEC&pg=PA143 |title=Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada |page=143 |first=William H |last=New |year=2002 |publisher=Springer |isbn=0802007619}} she was born in Victoriaville, Quebec. She received a teaching certificate from the École normale Marguerite-Bourgeoys in Sherbrooke in 1953. She taught school in Victoriaville until 1961 when she began a career in journalism and broadcasting, moving to Montreal. She contributed to various newspapers and was a freelance journalist for Radio Canada. In 1978, she published the feminist work Cyprine: essai collage pour être une femme, which incorporates prose, poetry and quotations.{{cite web |url=http://pistard.banq.qc.ca/unite_chercheurs/description_fonds?p_anqsid=201306181131451100&p_centre=06M&p_classe=MSS&p_fonds=388&p_numunide=882671 |title=Fonds Denise Boucher |publisher=Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec |language=fr}}
In 1978, her noted feminist play {{ill|Les fées ont soif|fr}} was presented at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde in Montreal. The play was met with strong opposition from the Catholic Church for its portrayal of the Virgin Mary. An English translation The Fairies are Thirsty was prepared by Alan Brown. Her play Les Divines was presented at the Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui in 1996.
Her musical review Gémeaux croisées toured Quebec and France to sold-out audiences, featuring performances by Pauline Julien and Anne Sylvestre respectively and directed by Viviane Théophilidès.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oKXt2Gcl-UEC&pg=PA125 |title=Plays by French and Francophone Women: A Critical Anthology |pages=125–28 |first=Christiane P |last=Makward |author2=Miller, Judith G |year=1994 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=0472082582}}
Her collections of poetry include Paris Polaroïd (1990) and Grandeur nature (1993).{{cite web |url=http://bilan.usherbrooke.ca/bilan/pages/biographies/919.html |title=Denise Boucher (1935-) Écrivaine, poète |work=Bilan du siècle |publisher=University of Sherbrooke |language=fr}} She participated in numerous poetry festivals around the globe.
Boucher also wrote a rock opera Rose Ross (1983) and scripts for television and radio, as well as lyrics for popular songs for singers including Dan Bigras, Pauline Julien, Gerry Boulet, Chloé Sainte-Marie and Louise Forestier.{{cite news |url=https://revue.leslibraires.ca/actualites/les-prix-litteraires/le-prix-adagio-revient-a-denise-boucher |title=Le prix Adagio revient à Denise Boucher |work=Les libraires |date=May 27, 2015 |language=fr}}
From 1998 to 2000, she was president of the Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois.{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Boucher%2C%20Denise |title=Boucher, Denise |encyclopedia=Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia}}
Boucher died on March 18, 2025, at the age of 89.{{cite news |title=Celebrated Quebecois Writer Denise Boucher Passes Away At 89 |url=https://evrimagaci.org/tpg/celebrated-quebecois-writer-denise-boucher-passes-away-at-89-269194 |access-date=19 March 2025 |publisher=The Pinnacle Gazette |date=19 March 2025}} A few weeks prior, she was admitted to the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal for respiratory problems. She had medical assistance in dying.{{cite web|url=https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/litterature/2025-03-18/denise-boucher-1935-2025/la-femme-de-lettres-qui-avait-soif-d-emancipation.php|title=La femme de lettres qui avait soif d'émancipation|accessdate=March 19, 2025}}
Awards and honours
In 2002, she received the {{ill|Prix des lecteurs du Marché de la poésie de Montréal|fr}}.{{cite web |url=http://www.litterature.org/recherche/ecrivains/boucher-denise-89/ |title=Boucher, Denise |publisher=Infocentre littéraire des écrivains |language=fr}} In 2015, she was awarded the Prix Adagio.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|6931239}}
- {{discogs artist|Denise Boucher}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boucher, Denise}}
Category:Journalists from Quebec
Category:Canadian women dramatists and playwrights
Category:Canadian feminist writers
Category:People from Victoriaville
Category:20th-century Canadian journalists
Category:20th-century Canadian women journalists
Category:20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers
Category:20th-century Canadian poets
Category:20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights