Marguerite Primeau

The poetic voice of an exceptional storyteller... Author Marguerite Primeau is a remarkable voice in Canadian fiction. Raised in a French community in Northern Alberta, Primeau writes only in French, although she has lived in Vancouver for many years. Her intense narrative of personal relationships reflects the stark landscape of the prairies and the lush Pacific Coast. The Totem is her first collection of short stories to be translated and published in English. Drawn from imagination and the past, the six tales in The Totem demonstrate Primeau’s mastery of the story-teller’s craft. Her writing is poetic and dream-like with surprisingly precise characterization and gift for interior dialogue, bestowing the ordinary with a startling intensity. Her powerful writing came to the attention of English language readers with the translation and publication of her Prix Champlain award-winning novel Savage Rose (Ekstasis, 1999).

Marguerite Primeau was born in St.. Paul, Alberta and educated in Edmonton. She has lived for many years in Vancouver, BC where she is Professor Emeritus of French at the University of British Columbia.