Jacques Poulin (; 23 September 1937 – 21 August 2025) was a Canadian novelist.

Life and career

Poulin was born in Saint-Gédéon-de-Beauce, Quebec on 23 September 1937. He studied psychology and arts at the Université Laval in Quebec City; he started his career as commercial translator and later became a college guidance counselor. Only after the success of his second novel, Jimmy (1969), was he able to devote himself completely to his writing. Poulin wrote fourteen novels, many of which have been translated into English by Sheila Fischman, and published by Cormorant Books.

He lived in Paris for 15 years, but later moved to Quebec City.

Poulin's Volkswagen Blues was selected as a candidate in the CBC's 2005 edition of Canada Reads, where it was championed by Roch Carrier, author and former National Librarian of Canada.

Poulin died on 21 August 2025, at the age of 87.

Awards and recognition

• Winner of the Governor General's Award in 1978 for Les grandes marées.

• Nominated for the Governor General's Award in 1984 for Volkswagen Blues.

• Nominated for the Governor General's Award in 1989, winner of the Prix Québec-Paris in 1989, the Prix Molson from the Académie des lettres du Québec in 1990 and the Prix France-Québec in 1991 for Le Vieux Chagrin.

• Winner of the Quebec government's Prix Athanase-David in 1995

• Winner of the Molson Prize from the Canada Council in 2000

• Winner of the Gilles-Corbeil Prize (Le Nobel québécois) in 2008

Bibliography

The "Jimmy" Trilogy:

• Mon cheval pour un royaume 1967 (Translated as My Horse for a Kingdom)

• Jimmy 1969 (Translated as Jimmy)

• Le cœur de la baleine bleue 1970 (Translated as The Heart of the Blue Whale)

• Faites de beaux rêves 1974 (Not yet translated)

• Les grandes marées 1978 (Spring Tides, translated by Sheila Fischman, (Archipelago Books), 2007)

• Volkswagen Blues 1984 (Translated as Volkswagen Blues)

• Le Vieux Chagrin 1989 (Translated as Mr. Blue)

• La tournée d'automne 1993 (Autumn Rounds by Sheila Fischman, (Archipelago Books), 2021)

• Chat sauvage 1998 (Translated as Wild Cat)

• Les yeux bleus de Mistassini 2002 (Translated as My Sister's Blue Eyes)

• La traduction est une histoire d'amour 2006 (Translation is a Love Affair, translated by Sheila Fischman (Archipelago Books), 2009)

• L'anglais n'est pas une langue magique 2009 ("English is Not a Magic Language", translated by Sheila Fischman (Esplanade Books, the fiction series at Véhicule Press), 2016)

• L'homme de la Saskatchewan 2011 (Not yet translated)

• Un jukebox dans la tête 2015 (Not yet translated)

See also

• List of French-Canadian writers

References

External links

• Prix Athanase-David 1995 announcement

• Critical bibliography (Auteurs.contemporain.info)

• Jacques Poulin entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia

• Archives of Jacques Poulin (Fonds Jacques Poulin, R11789) are held at Library and Archives Canada