Roxanne Bouchard

Born in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec in 1972, Roxanne Bouchard studied at the University of Montreal and then obtained a master's degree from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).{{cite news |last1=Gladel |first1=Cecile |title=Le polar de Roxanne Bouchard en tête des ventes du 12 août sur leslibraires.ca |url=https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1726652/mariee-corail-roxanne-bouchard-joaquim-morales-gaspesie |access-date=20 January 2023 |publisher=CBC/Radio-Canada |date=14 August 2020 |language=fr-ca}} She has taught literature at the Joliette campus of the Cégep régional de Lanaudière starting in 1994, when she was completing her master's degree at UQAM.{{cite news |last1=Lapointe |first1=Josée |title=Dans la classe de... Roxanne Bouchard |url=https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/livres/201705/26/01-5101660-dans-la-classe-de-roxanne-bouchard.php |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=La Presse |date=26 May 2017 |language=fr}}

Bouchard's first novel, Whisky et paraboles, was published in 2005. The novel won that year's Prix Robert-Cliche, awarded for a French-language novel of a Canadian author who had not published a novel before, as well as the 2007 {{ill|grand prix de la relève littéraire Archambault|fr|italics=y}}, and it was a finalist for the Prix Anne-Hébert, an award for the first French-language novel by a Quebecoise writer.{{cite news |title=En bref - Prix Robert-Cliche |url=https://www.ledevoir.com/lire/180545/en-bref-prix-robert-cliche |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=Le Devoir |date=15 March 2008 |language=fr}}{{cite journal |last1=Couture |first1=François |title=Roxanne Bouchard |journal=Entre les Lignes |date=Summer 2006 |volume=2 |issue=4 |page=13 |url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/el/2006-v2-n4-el1060828/10959ac/ |issn=1710-8004 |language=fr |via=Érudit}}{{cite news |title=En photo - Comme une odeur de prix |url=https://www.ledevoir.com/lire/140668/en-photo-comme-une-odeur-de-prix |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=Le Devoir |date=24 April 2007 |language=fr}}

In 2013, Bouchard published En terrain miné, which covers her five-year exchange of letters with a soldier in Afghanistan, corporal Patrick Kègle.{{cite news |last1=Blais |first1=Marie-Christine |title=Roxanne Bouchard: le coeur est un bateau |url=https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/livres/entrevues/201406/13/01-4775655-roxanne-bouchard-le-coeur-est-un-bateau.php |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=La Presse |date=14 June 2014 |language=fr}} 5 balles dans la tête, published in 2017, contains the recollections of wartime experiences of 25 active or retired members of the Canadian Armed Forces, mostly those who participated in the War in Afghanistan.{{cite news |last1=Tardif |first1=Dominic |title=«5 balles dans la tête»: les émotions sont mortes au champ de bataille |url=https://www.ledevoir.com/lire/512041/t-en-veux-des-histoires-de-militaires-ben-en-v-la |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=Le Devoir |date=3 November 2017 |language=fr}}{{cite interview |title=5 balles dans la tête, une irruption dans le monde militaire |url=https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premiere/emissions/sur-le-vif/segments/entrevue/61627/roxanne-bouchard-entrevue |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=Sur le vif |publisher=CBC/Radio-Canada |date=2 March 2018 |language=fr}} In writing 5 balles dans la tête, she met with soldiers at CFB Valcartier and had them talk about their experiences, rather than ask them questions. At one point in the research process, in 2013, the memories became so overwhelming that bad dreams prevented her from sleeping and led her to pause her work until January 2014.{{cite news |last1=Porter |first1=Isabelle |title=Une écrivaine chez les militaires |url=https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/ville-de-quebec/394527/une-ecrivaine-chez-les-militaires |access-date=21 January 2023 |work=Le Devoir |date=6 December 2013 |language=fr}}

Bouchard is best known for her series of maritime crime novels following the investigations of detective Joaquin Moralès in the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. In the first novel of the series, titled Nous étions le sel de la mer (2014), Moralès investigates a body washed up from the sea. The novel was a 2015 Prix France-Québec finalist.{{cite news |last1=Vigneault |first1=Alexandre |title=La romancière Roxanne Bouchard primée |url=https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/litterature/2021-05-27/la-romanciere-roxanne-bouchard-primee.php# |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=La Presse |date=27 May 2021 |language=fr}} Its sequel, La Mariée de corail, was published by {{ill|Libre Expression|fr|lt=Éditions Libre Expression}} in 2020;{{cite news |last1=Lapointe |first1=Josée |title=Le polar maritime de Roxanne Bouchard |url=https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/litterature/2020-06-21/le-polar-maritime-de-roxanne-bouchard |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=La Presse |date=21 June 2020 |language=fr}} in the novel, Moralès investigates the disappearance of a lobster boat captain.{{cite news |last1=Bornais |first1=Marie-France |title=Drame chez les pêcheurs gaspésiens |url=https://www.journaldequebec.com/2020/06/28/drame-chez-les-pecheurs-gaspesiens |access-date=21 January 2023 |work=Le Journal de Québec |date=28 June 2020 |language=fr}} The novel won the 2021 Best French Crime Book award from the Crime Writers of Canada{{cite news |title=«La mariée de corail»: Roxanne Bouchard récompensée par la Crime Writers of Canada |url=https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/05/27/la-mariee-de-corail-roxanne-bouchard-recompensee-par-la-crime-writers-of-canada |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=Le Journal de Montréal |agency=QMI |date=27 May 2021 |language=fr}} and topped the online sales chart of the Académie des lettres du Québec in August 2020. The third novel of the series, Le murmure des hakapiks, was published in 2021. Two parallel and converging storylines make up the novel, one in which Moralès is investigating the assault of a teenager, while her friend Simone Lord, a Fisheries Officer introduced in the previous novel, monitors a seal hunt aboard a trawler.{{cite news |last1=Lapointe |first1=Josée |title=Le murmure des hakapiks {{!}} Polar glacé ★★★½ |url=https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/litterature/2021-05-02/le-murmure-des-hakapiks/polar-glace.php |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=La Presse |date=2 May 2021 |language=fr}} The novel was nominated for the Crime Writers of Canada award for Best French Crime Book in 2022.{{cite news |last1=Berki |first1=Attila |title=2022 Crime Writers of Canada Awards shortlists announced |url=https://quillandquire.com/omni/2022-crime-writers-of-canada-awards-shortlists-announced/ |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=Quill & Quire |date=21 April 2022}}

English versions of the original French-language novels{{en dash}}We Were the Salt of the Sea (2018), The Coral Bride (2020), and Whisper of the Seals (2022){{en dash}}were translated by David Warriner and published by British publisher Orenda Books.{{cite news |last1=McCambridge |first1=Peter |title=Publishing in Québec 2018: New Frontiers of Crime Fiction |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/international-book-news/article/78125-publishing-in-qu-bec-2018-new-frontiers-of-crime-fiction.html |access-date=21 January 2023 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=21 September 2018}}{{cite web|title=Roxanne Bouchard |url=https://orendabooks.co.uk/authors/roxanne-bouchard |publisher=Orenda Books}}{{Primary source inline|date=January 2023}} In 2020, Swiss publisher {{ill|Atrium Verlag|de}} obtained rights for a German-language version of the first two novels. The Coral Bride was longlisted for the 2021 CWA Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation from the United Kingdom-based Crime Writers' Association.{{cite news |last1=Chandler |first1=Mark |title=CWA Dagger longlists revealed featuring Rowling, Rankin and Banville |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/cwa-dagger-longlists-revealed-featuring-rowling-rankin-and-banville-1253638 |access-date=21 January 2023 |work=The Bookseller |date=April 15, 2021 |language=En}}

Nous étions le sel de la mer was selected as the Quebec representative for the 2023 edition of the book debate show Le Combat des livres, where it was defended by actor Gilles Renaud.Bobby Therrien, [https://www.acadienouvelle.com/arts-et-spectacles/2023/04/25/un-roman-de-sebastien-berube-candidat-au-combat-national-des-livres/ "Un roman de Sébastien Bérubé candidat au Combat national des livres"]. L'Acadie Nouvelle, April 25, 2023.{{cite news |last1=Santos-Vieira |first1=Daphné |title=Short story collection Rivières-aux-Cartouches, defended by Gabriel Robichaud, wins Combat national des livres |url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/short-story-collection-rivi%C3%A8res-aux-cartouches-defended-by-gabriel-robichaud-wins-combat-national-des-livres-1.6849035 |access-date=July 22, 2023 |publisher=CBC Books |date=May 19, 2023}}

• {{cite book |last1=Bouchard |first1=Roxanne |author-mask=1 |ref=no |title=Whisky et Paraboles |year=2005 |publisher=VLB}} Reissued in 2008.
• {{cite book |last1=Bouchard |first1=Roxanne |author-mask=1 |ref=no |title=La Gifle |year=2007 |publisher=Coups de tête}}{{cite news |last1=Laurin |first1=Danielle |title=La gifle des gifles |url=https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/chroniques/143177/la-gifle-des-gifles |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=Le Devoir |date=12 May 2007 |language=fr}}
• {{cite book |last1=Bouchard |first1=Roxanne |author-mask=1 |ref=no |title=Crématorium Circus |year=2012 |publisher=VLB}}
• {{cite book |last1=Bouchard |first1=Roxanne |author-mask=1 |last2=Kègle |first2=Patrick |ref=no |title=En terrain miné: orrespondance en temps de guerre |year=2012 |publisher=VLB}}
• {{cite book |last1=Bouchard |first1=Roxanne |author-mask=1 |ref=no |title=J't'aime encore - monologue amoureux |year=2016 |publisher=VLB}}{{cite news |last1=Tardif |first1=Dominic |title=Le dur désir de durer |url=https://www.ledevoir.com/lire/470093/litterature-canadienne-le-dur-desir-de-durer |access-date=20 January 2023 |work=Le Devoir |date=7 May 2016 |language=fr}}
• {{cite book |last1=Bouchard |first1=Roxanne |author-mask=1 |ref=no |title=Cinq balles dans la tête |year=2017 |publisher={{ill|Québec Amérique|fr}}}}

• {{cite book |last1=Bouchard |first1=Roxanne |author-mask=1 |ref=no |title=Nous étions le sel de la mer |year=2014 |publisher=VLB}}
• English edition: Warriner, David. We Were the Salt of the Sea, Orenda Books, 2018.
• {{cite book |last1=Bouchard |first1=Roxanne |author-mask=1 |ref=no |title=La Mariée de corail |year=2020 |publisher={{ill|Libre Expression|fr|lt=Éditions Libre Expression}}}}
• English edition: Warriner, David. The Coral Bride, Orenda Books, 2020.
• {{cite book |last1=Bouchard |first1=Roxanne |author-mask=1 |ref=no |title=Le murmure des hakapiks |year=2021 |publisher=Éditions Libre Expression}}
• English edition: Warriner, David. Whisper of the Seals, Orenda Books, 2022.

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Category:21st-century Canadian women writers

Category:21st-century Canadian novelists

Category:Canadian women novelists

Category:1972 births

Category:Living people

Category:Université du Québec à Montréal alumni

Category:Canadian crime fiction writers

Category:Detective fiction writers

Category:Writers from Quebec

Category:People from Saint-Jérôme