Anne Hébert facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anne Hébert
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| Born | August 1, 1916 St. Catherine de Fossambault, Quebec |
| Died | January 22, 2000 (aged 83) Montreal |
| Language | French |
| Citizenship | Canadian |
| Notable works | Les Songes en Équilibre, Poèmes, Kamouraska |
| Notable awards | Prix David, Prix Femina, FRSC, Governor General's Award, Order of Canada, Prix Duvernay, Molson Prize |
Anne Hébert (born August 1, 1916 – died January 22, 2000) was a famous Canadian writer and poet. She wrote many books and poems. Anne Hébert won Canada's highest writing award, the Governor General's Award, three times. She won it twice for her novels and once for her poetry.
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Anne Hébert's Early Life and Family
Anne Hébert was born in Sainte-Catherine-de-Fossambault, a town in Quebec. Her father, Maurice Hébert, was also a poet and someone who wrote about books. She was a cousin and friend to another poet, Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau. Anne started writing poems and stories when she was very young.
Anne Hébert's Writing Career
By her early twenties, Anne Hébert's writing was being published. Her first book of poems, Les Songes en Équilibre, came out in 1942. In this book, she wrote about feeling alone and in a "dreamlike state." This book received good reviews and won her the Prix David.
After her cousin Hector died in 1943, and her sister Marie died in 1952, Anne's poems began to include themes of death and sadness. Her collection of stories, Le Torrent, was first published in 1950. These stories were seen as shocking at the time, but they later became very popular.
During the 1950s, Anne Hébert also worked in film. She worked for Radio Canada, the Film Board of Canada, and the National Film Board of Canada.
In 1953, she published her second book of poems, Le Tombeau des rois (The Tomb of Kings). She had to pay for its publication herself. In 1954, Anne moved to Paris, France, hoping her writing would be better received there. She used a grant from the Royal Society of Canada to help her move.
Her first novel, Les Chambres de bois (1958), was a strong story. It showed violence and harshness using vivid pictures in words. Anne Hébert was one of the first writers from Quebec to explore feelings of being lost and wanting to rebel in her stories.
In 1960, during a time of big changes in Quebec called the Quiet Revolution, Anne published Mystère de la parole. This new collection of poems was about more everyday topics.
Her 1970 novel Kamouraska tells two exciting and romantic stories. It is set in Quebec during the 1800s.
Anne Hébert returned to Canada in the 1990s. Her last novel, Un Habit de lumière, was published in 1998.
Anne Hébert passed away from bone cancer on January 22, 2000, in Montreal.
Awards and Recognition for Anne Hébert
Anne Hébert's first poetry book, Les Songes en Équilibre, won Quebec's Prix David. She also won the Prix France-Canada and the Ludger-Duvernay Prize in 1958 for her novel Les chambres de bois.
She became a member of the Royal Society of Canada in 1960.
Her book Poèmes won the Governor General's Award for poetry in 1960. She won the Governor General's Award for her novels twice. These were for Les enfants du sabbat (1975) and L'enfant chargé des songes (1992).
She received the Molson Prize in 1967.
Anne Hébert won France's Prix de librairies for her 1970 novel Kamouraska. She also won the Prix Fémina for her 1982 novel Les fous de Bassan. Both of these books were made into movies. Kamouraska became a film in 1973, and Les fous de Bassan in 1986. Kamouraska also won a big award from the Royal Academy of the French Language in Belgium.
Anne Hébert's books have been translated into at least seven languages. These include English, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. The English version of Le premier jardin, called The First Garden, won an award for translation in 1991.
L'école Anne-Hébert is an elementary school in Vancouver. It opened in 1983 and teaches students from kindergarten to grade 6 only in French.
In 2013, a filmmaker named Michel Langlois made a documentary about Anne Hébert. It was called Anne des vingt jours.
Commemorative Postage Stamp
On September 8, 2003, Canada Post released special stamps to celebrate Canadian writers. This was for the 50th anniversary of the National Library of Canada. The stamps featured two English-Canadian and two French-Canadian authors. Anne Hébert and her cousin, Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau, were two of the French-Canadian authors chosen.
See also
In Spanish: Anne Hébert para niños
