Article

Nicole Brossard

Published Online February 7, 2008

Last Edited December 15, 2013

Nicole Brossard, writer, publisher (b at Montréal 27 Nov 1943). Brossard is a leading exponent of so-called formalist poetry in Québec and a major theoretician and promoter of literary and cultural feminism.

Brossard, Nicole

Nicole Brossard, writer, publisher (b at Montréal 27 Nov 1943). Brossard is a leading exponent of so-called formalist poetry in Québec and a major theoretician and promoter of literary and cultural feminism. In 1965 she founded LA BARRE DU JOUR, a literary magazine which rebelled against nationalist-inspired poetry.

Her poetry, in collections such as Le Centre blanc (1970) and Suite logique (1970), is abstract and antilyrical, and influenced the young poets of the magazine Les Herbes rouges. Brossard has also written novels.

Her career took on a feminist dimension with Mécanique jongleuse suivi de masculin grammaticale (1974), which won the Governor General's Award for poetry. She founded the feminist paper Les Têtes de pioche (1976-79) and the magazine La Nouvelle Barre du jour (1977), and has participated in many conferences in Canada and abroad about women's writing or Québec literature.

While being an active member of the Union des écrivains québécois and getting involved in publishing, she has since 1980 written important collections of poetry, such as Double Impression (Governor General's Award 1984) and a number of experimental novels.