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Québec: French Culture, First Nations & Folk Music

Québec: History, Literature & Poetry

Chateau de Ramezay. Montreal. 1901. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Québecois authors are often overshadowed by Anglo-Canadian literature heavyweights like Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid’s Tale, and L.M. Montgomery, the creator of Anne of Green Gables. Nonetheless, Québécois literature is remarkably vibrant and diverse and plays a fundamental role in Canada's collective literary repertoire.

Written works from Québec extend from the sixteenth century, when the process of colonization began, to the present day. Over the centuries, Québécois literature has evolved and diversified. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, writers focused on the exploration of New France. This region extended from present-day Québec to the Mississippi River Delta in the United States. By the 20th and 21st centuries, the literature expanded to include an array of genres and themes. Some prominent modern themes include feminism, Québécois nationalism, the role of Roman Catholicism, Jewish identity, the family, the working class, racial identity, and sexuality.

Contemporary French Canadian literature has also grown to incorporate the experiences of people from all walks of life. For example, in the mid-twentieth century, there was an emergence of literature by the Jewish community in Montréal. The movement was spearheaded by authors like Mordecai Richler, Irving Layton, and Leonard Cohen. In the late twentieth century, literature gave a voice to the leaders of the Québec sovereignty movement. Poet Gaston Miron was perhaps the most famous literary advocate on this front. There has been an increase in the number of female authors. Novelists like Gabrielle Roy, Madeleine Gagnon, Marie-Claire Blais, Monique Proulx, Nicole Brossard and Antonine Maillet (Acadian from New Brunswick) have since become an indispensable part of Canadian literature. Also adding to the depth in Québécois literature are voices from other countries who have made Canada their home. Haïti has brought some of the most notable voices with authors such as Marie-Célie Agnant, Stanley Péan and Rodney Saint-Éloi. Marie-Célie Agnant was born in 1953 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and has lived in Canada for most of her life. She received the Prix Alain-Grandbois of the Academie des Lettres du Quebec in 2017 for her most recent collection of poetry, Femmes de terres brûlées (2016). In 2023, she was appointed Canada's 10th Parliamentary Poet Laureate. In Canada, the Governor General's Literary Awards External are presented in recognition of the best English-language and best French-language book in each of the following seven categories: Fiction, Literary Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Young People's Literature, and Illustrated Books and Translation (from French to English and vice versa). Most of the literature selected below is by Canadian and Québecois writers but some books have been included that feature Québec prominently in their stories. Most titles are written in Canadian French, the dominant language of the region, or translated into English. Some Québécois writers also write in one of the indigenous languages.

To search the Library's collections use the following Library of Congress Subject Headings in a Browse search "SUBJECTS beginning with":

Québec (Province)--History; Québec (Province)--Histoire--Autonomie et mouvements indépendantistes; Québec (Province)--Ethnic relations; Québec (Province)--Politics and government; Québec (Province)--Commission de protection de la langue française; Québec (Province)--Genealogy; Québec (Province)--Languages--Political aspects, Québec (Province)--Literary collections.

Below are select bibliographies for the categories of History & Politics, Arts & Culture, Biography & Memoire, and Fiction & Poetry.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional digitized versions are included when available.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional digitized versions are included when available.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional digitized versions are included when available.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional digitized versions are included when available.