Suzanne Jacob

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Suzanne Jacob was born (1943) in the town of Amos, in the Abitibi region of Quebec, Canada. She studied classics at the Collège Notre-Dame de l'Assomption in Nicolet, Quebec, and also, while in Nicolet, she attended workshops at the “Atelier de theatre” and the “École de musique”.

After moving to Montréal, she attended the University of Montréal where she studied literature and art history. During this time she appeared in two performances of the experimental theater group, Les Apprentis-Sorciers -- a theatrical group that opened up the doors of Montréal to modernist and experimental performance. She taught French between 1966 and 1974. It was at this time that she began to write and perform monologues, poems and songs. In 1970 she won the Prix du Patriote for singer-songwriter of the year. That same year she participated in the Spa festival in Belgium.

Her first novel, Flore Cocon, was published in 1978. It was also in this year that she, Paul Paré, and Patricia Gariépy founded the publishing house Le Biocreux. Jacob was the literary director of this publishing house for several years.

Suzanne Jacob contributed to a number of literary reviews, including Liberté and La Gazette des femmes. She also recorded two lps, Suzanne Jacob (1979) and Une humaine ambulante (1980).

Her abundant and diverse output has resulted in novels, stories, essays, short stories, poems, commentary, performance pieces, plays, and installations. Of her work she has said, that from the beginning she has continually tried to use fiction as a way of creating discrepancies, breaks, and uncertainty in the monolithic set of beliefs that surround us, and that without these discrepancies nothing would shake the rigidity of fundamentalism. She is a revolutionary without having lost her humanism or her sense of humor. In 1992 and 1993 she was writer in residence at the University of Montréal.

She has lectured in Québec, the United States, Europe and South America. She is a member of the Academy of Arts and Letters of Quebec. She received the Governor General’s Award and the Prix Paris-Quebec for her novel “Laura Laur”. She also received the Governor General’s Award for “La Part de Feu” which was also awarded the First Prize for Poetry by the Société Radio Canada.

In 2000 Suzanne Jacob collaborated with Charles Binamé on the film script for “La Beauté de Pandore”. In 2002 and 2003 she acted in the television dramas, “Trop jeune pour être père” (Canada -- English title: Too Young to Be a Dad) and “Footsteps” (USA television).

Suzanne Jacob continues to write, lecture, and perform.

1 Bibliography
2 Recordings
3 Filmography
4 External Sources

[edit] Bibliography

Fugueuses (novel, 2005)
Wells (novel, 2003)
Comment pourquoi (essay, 2002)
Rouge, mère et fils (novel, 2001)
La Beauté de Pandore (scenario, in collaboration with Charles Binamé, 2000)
Parlez-moi d'amour (short stories, 1998)
La Bulle d'encre (essay, 1997 - Prix de la revue Études françaises)
La Part de feu (poems, 1997 – Governor General's Award and Premier prix de poésie de la Société Radio-Canada)
Ah--! (chronicles, 1996)
Les Écrits de l'eau (poems, 1996)
L'Obéissance (novel, 1991) ; Montréal, Boréal, coll. « Boréal compact », 1993.
Plages du Maine (story, 1989) | A Beach in Maine (translated by Susanna Finnell) Guernica Editions (1993)
Les Aventures de Pomme Douly (short stories, 1988)
Maude (story, 1988) | Maude (translated by Luise von Flotow) Guernica Editions (1997)
La Passion selon Galatée (novel, 1987)
Laura Laur (novel, 1983) – Montréal, Boréal, coll. « Boréal compact », 1999, Governor General's Award and Prix Paris-Québec)
Poèmes I - Gémellaires (poems, 1980)
La Survie (short stories, 1979) ; Montréal, BQ, 1989 -- translated by Susanna Finnell as “Life, After All” Gang Pub: 1989
Flore Cocon (novel, 1978) ; Montréal, l'Hexagone, 1990.

Works translated into English:

“Life, After All” (“La Survie” translated by Susanna Finnell) Gang Pub (1989).
“A Beach in Maine” (“Plages du Maine” translated by Susanna Finnell) Guernica Editions (1993).
“Maude” (translated by Luise von Flotow) Guernica Editions (1997).

[edit] Recordings

“Une humaine ambulante” (record, 1980)
“Suzanne Jacob” (record, 1979)

[edit] Filmography

As Script writer:

“La Beauté de Pandore” (2000) directed by Charles Binamé.

As actress:

“Trop jeune pour être père” (Canada -- English title: Too Young to Be a Dad -- 2002) directed by Éva Gárdos.
“Footsteps” (USA television, 2003) directed by John Badham.