The author, essayist and literary critic Normand de Bellefeuille died on Monday at the age of 74.
Mr. de Bellefeuille was born in Montreal in December 1949 and won numerous literary awards throughout his career, including the Governor General's for “The Blind Man's Walk Without His Dog” in 2000 and the Grand Prix du Festival International of Poetry (1986). , the Émile Nelligan Prize (1984) and the Athanase David Prize (2017).
The writer Alain Beaulieu (Le Refuge) drew attention to his departure on his Facebook page early Tuesday afternoon. “My accomplice from the first days of publishing my books, who accompanied me all the way from Fou-Bar in 1997 to Visions by Manuel Mendoza a few years ago, died yesterday,” he wrote, mentioning his sadness and his gratitude towards him.
“He made it possible for me to always enthusiastically accept what I suggested to him, even for my craziest novels,” he added.
After publishing his first works in the 1970s, when he was a professor of literature at the Collège Maisonneuve and a lecturer at the Department of Literary Studies at the University of Quebec in Montreal, Mr. de Bellefeuille published more than thirty works.
He also held the position of literary director at QuébecAmérique and at Éditions Druide.
He was a member of the Union of Quebec Writers and offered literary support services to writers seeking advice.