
Andrée Lacelle
French Poet Laureate 2017/18
Andrée Lacelle was the first Franco-Ontarian writer to receive the Trillium Literary Award for Tant de vie s’égare, which also was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. In 2015, Sol Ciel Ciels Sols, a retrospective of her work, was published in the BCF (Bibliothèque canadienne-française) series. In 1996, she was the writer-in-residence for the Department of French Literature at the University of Ottawa. In 2016, she was inducted into the Ottawa International Poetry Hall of Fame. Andrée Lacelle is the first Francophone Poet Laureate of the City of Ottawa (2017-2019).
Andrée Lacelle has participated in both national and international literary events, which include performances at the Théâtre-Poème in Brussels, the Maison de la Poésie de Paris – Théâtre Molière, the International Book Exposition in Geneva, and the International Festival of French Poets in Benin. As a literary critic and commentator, she has written numerous reviews for Liaison magazine. In 1997, she hosted a series of open houses at the National Library of Canada. As well, she appeared on Panorama TFO as a commentator on Franco-Ontarian issues (2006-2010). She created a feature-documentary on Franco-Ontarian literature, In the Heart of Words, as part of a partnership between the Community Radio Alliance of Canada (Réseau Francophone d’Amérique) and the AAOF. From her home in Ottawa, she co-edited a Francophone anthology of poetry featuring contemporary female voices that was published in France in 2012.
In April 2018, as part of her tenure as Francophone Poet Laureate of the City of Ottawa, she curated the first part of Ottawa, Poems of the City 2018 – our waters, our souls, which was launched as nos eaux, nos âmes on the City’s website. The second instalment of Poems of the City (our places, our steps) was released in March 2019.
Publications
Poetry- La Visiteuse, Éditions Prise de parole, Sudbury, 2017. Finaliste au Prix du livre de la Ville d’Ottawa.
- La Visiteuse. Éditions Prise de Parole, Sudbury, 2017. Finalist, Ottawa Book Awards, 2018.
- Sol ciel ciels sols. Bibliothèque Canadienne-Française series, preface by François Paré, Éditions Prise de Parole, 2015.
- Demain, l’enfance. Edited by Clémence Van Lunen, Ottawa, Éditions du Vermillon, 2011. Tant de vie s’égare. Ottawa, Éditions du Vermillon, 2007. Reprint.
- La Lumière et l’heure, Poèmes et carnets, with seven illustrations by Rejine Halimi. Ottawa, Éditions du Vermillon, 2004.
- La Vie Rouge, with seven oil paintings by Cyrill Bonnes. Ottawa, Éditions du Vermillon, 1998. La Voyageuse, with a set of photographs by Marie-Jeanne Musiol. Sudbury, Éditions Prise de Parole, 1995.
- Tant de vie s’égare. Ottawa, Éditions du Vermillon, 1994.
- Coïncidence secrète, with four drawings by Denise Bloomfield. Ottawa, Éditions du Vermillon, 1985.
- Au soleil du souffle. Sudbury, Éditions Prise de Parole, 1979.
- Survenance. Frontispiece by Marie-Jeanne Musiol. Ottawa, Éditions du Vermillon, 2001. (This was performed by Marie Tifo and Pierre Lebeau as part of the program Alexis Martin Presents, broadcast on Radio-Canada, December 10, 2000.)
- pas d’ici, pas d’ailleurs: Anthologie Poétique Francophone de Voix Féminines Contemporaines, edited by Sabine Huynh, Andrée Lacelle, Angèle Paoli, and Aurélie Tourniaire, with an introduction by Déborah Heissler. Montélimar, Éditions Voix d’Encre, 2012, 336 pages.
- Folie des mots! Ottawa, Centre Franco-Ontarien de Ressources Pédagogiques, 1989.
- Bobikoki mon chat n’aime pas…, illustrations by Carole Rogeau-Labarthe. Ottawa, Éditions du Vermillon, 1996.
Major Prizes and Other Distinctions
- Premier prix de Poésie de la Société Radio-Canada 1993
- Trillium Award 1994 (Tant de vie s’égare)
- Prix de Poésie de l’Alliance Française 1995
- Prix Littéraire Le Droit 2012 (Demain l’enfance)
- Finalist – Governor General’s Award 1995 (poetry)
- Finalist – Trillium Award 1995 (La Voyageuse)
- Finalist – Dumitriu-van-Saanen Award 2004 – Salon du Livre de Toronto (La lumière et l’heure)
- Finalist – Ottawa Book Award 1996 (Tant de vie s’égare)
- Finalist – Prix littéraire Le Droit 2018 (La Visiteuse)
- Finalist – Ottawa Book Awards, 2018. (La Visiteuse)
- First Franco-Ontarian poet to be inducted in the Ottawa International Poetry Festival Hall of Fame (VERSeFest, 2016)
- First Francophone Poet Laureate of the City of Ottawa (2017-2019)
- Keynote speaker at the Salon du Livre de l’Outaouais (1999)