France Daigle

1953-

France Daigle is an Acadian novelist, playwright, and journalist born in Moncton, New Brunswick, on 18 November 1953. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from the Université de Moncton in 1976. Daigle is the recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the Prix Pascal-Poirier (1991), the Prix Éloizes (1998, 2002), the Prix France-Acadie (1998), the Prix Antonine-Maillet-Acadie Vie (1999, 2012), the Prix Champlain (2012), the Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for High Achievement in the Arts (New Brunswick, 2011), and the Governor General’s Literary Award (2012). Her first books included Sans jamais parler du vent (1983), Film d'amour et de dépendance (1984), Histoire de la maison qui brûle (1985), and Variations en B et K (1985).  Her later novels include 1953 (1995) and Pour sûr (2011).  Daigle wrote a film script for the movie Tending Towards the Horizontal (1988) by Toronto filmmaker Barbara Sternberg. As a playwright, she has penned a handful of plays, including Craie (1999), Foin (2000), and Bric-à-brac (2001), which were written for Moncton Sable, a local theatre collective. Also, having worked for Radio-Canada in Moncton as a writer of news reports from 1975 to 1978, she has, since 2012, returned to journalism by writing a regular column for New Brunswick’s Francophone daily newspaper, L’Acadie nouvelle.  About half of Daigle’s novels have been translated into English and published by the House of Anansi. Of those translations, Just Fine (Robert Majzels’ translation of Pas pire) was the recipient of the Governor General’s literary award for French to English translation in 2000.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Moncton

Archival Material

• France Daigle fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  Library and Archives Canada

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  R12025-0-4-F, LMS-0262

  Date Range of Material

  1974-2004

  Extent

  1.94 m of textual records;
  10 photographs;
  2 videocassettes;
  9 audio cassettes.

  Scope and Content Note

  Includes the literary production of France Daigle and the critical reception of her works, from the 1970s to the beginning of the 2000s. It contains the manuscripts of published and unpublished works. It consists of the following series: 1) Novels; 2) Writing (poems and other writings); 3) Theatre; 4) Cinema; 5) Critical reception. The collection illustrates the different stages in the creation of works by France Daigle, from the first draft to the final manuscript.