Antonine Maillet, la grande voix de l’Acadie, passed away peacefully on the night of February 17, 2025 at her home in Montreal.
Born in Bouctouche on May 10, 1929, she was the daughter of the late Léonide and Virginie (Cormier) Maillet. She is predeceased by her brothers and sisters: Anna (Hervé Michaud), Thérèse (Albéo Michaud), Sr Jeanne, Cécile, Claudette, Gabrielle, Lionel (Juliette Richard), father Achille and Laurie (Marie Bastarache). She is survived by relatives and friends of the extended Acadian family, as well as by many colleagues from the literary world around the world.
Novelist, playwright and essayist, Antonine Maillet's work resonates with the breath of a uniquely French language. Today, her reputation extends throughout the French-speaking world and far beyond.
Carried by a unique voice - which still echoed in its breath the language of Rabelais, of whom Antonine Maillet was a specialist - her work, which began in 1958 with Pointe-aux-Coques and ended in 2024 with Le roi Ovide XIX, includes over forty works of fiction and drama.
A leading figure in contemporary Acadian literature, she has received numerous literary awards over the course of her prolific career, including the Governor General's Literary Award for Don l'Orignal, published in 1968, and the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 1979 for her novel Pélagie-la-Charrette, making her the first non-European woman to receive it. More than 45 years after its publication, Pélagie-la-Charrette remains the only Canadian work to have won the Goncourt.
After obtaining a bachelor's degree in 1950 from Collège Notre-Dame d'Acadie, she joined the Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur congregation and, as a nun, took the name Sister Marie-Grégoire. It was while living in community that she published her first books, including her first novel Pointe-aux-Coques and her play Poire-Acre in 1958. She completed an M.A. in 1959, and in the late '60s studied in Paris. In 1970, she obtained a doctorate in literature from Université Laval. Her thesis, Rabelais et les traditions populaires en Acadie, was published in 1971. Antonine Maillet taught for many years, first at Collège Notre-Dame d'Acadie, then at Université de Moncton, Collège des Jésuites de Québec, Université Laval and Université de Montréal.
In July 1971, at the Université de Moncton's Champlain Library, Antonine Maillet and her accomplice Viola Léger staged the first edition of La Sagouine's monologues, a memorable production that went on to become a resounding success in Acadia, Quebec and English Canada. Antonine Maillet's success was the first of many, culminating in the award of the Goncourt Prize.
From 1989 to 2000, Antonine Maillet was Chancellor of the Université de Moncton, becoming the first woman to hold this position. In 1999, as Chancellor, she took part in the Francophonie Summit held in Moncton, and hosted the welcoming ceremony for French President Jacques Chirac in Memramcook, the cradle of modern Acadia. In 2001, the University named her Chancellor Emeritus, a title offered for the first and only time by the institution. Jewels from her personal and professional collection are preciously preserved at the Centre d'études acadiennes Anselme-Chiasson in the Fonds d'archives Antonine-Maillet.
Her work inspired the creation of a unique Canadian tourist attraction, Le Pays de la Sagouine, which opened in 1992 on Bouctouche Bay. In this wonderful place of creation and gathering, Antonine Maillet's imagination gives life to a multitude of characters, offering more than a hundred actors and actresses the opportunity to live their passion for French-language theater to the full.
In addition to some thirty honorary doctorates, this emblematic figure of Acadian literature has received numerous high distinctions over the course of her prolific career, including Companion of the Order of Canada, Member of the Order of New Brunswick, Officer of the Ordre de la Pléiade of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie and Commander of the Ordre du mérite de France. In 2021, the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, awarded him the insignia of Commandeur de l'Ordre de la Légion d'honneur, the highest rank in the order. In 2024, Canada Post issued a stamp bearing her effigy.
Antonine Maillet's funeral service will be held at Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption Cathedral, 226 Saint George Street, Moncton, on Saturday, April 12, 2025, at 11 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, we ask that those wishing to pay their respects consider making a donation to the Montreal palliative care organization, Les Trois sentiers: https://auxtroissentiers.org/faire-un-don/.
Messages of condolence can be sent to www.salonfrenette.com.