Linda Gaboriau (née Johnson)^[1] is a Canadian dramaturg and literary translator who has translated some 125 plays and novels by Quebec writers, including many of the Quebec plays best known to English-speaking audiences.^[2]

Background

A native of Boston,^[1] she moved to Montreal in 1963 to pursue her studies at McGill University where she obtained a B.A. and M.A. in French language and literature.^[1] While a student, she was briefly married to a man whose surname was Gaboriau; although the marriage was short-lived, she kept his surname as her professional pen name.^[1]

She has worked as a freelance journalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Radio Canada and the Montreal Gazette,^[1] pursued a career in Canadian and Quebec theatre and, in the 2000s, served as the founding director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre.^[3]

Work

Her translations have garnered many awards, including three Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Awards for Michel Marc Bouchard's Lilies (Les Feluettes) in 1992,^[4] Normand Chaurette's The Queens (Les Reines) in 1993^[5] and Bouchard's The Orphan Muses (Les Muses orphelines) in 1999;^[6] the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play in 1991 for Lilies^[7] and in 2000 for Michel Tremblay's For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again (Encore une fois si vous permettez);^[8] three Governor General's Awards for French to English translation in 1996 for Daniel Danis's Stone and Ashes (Cendres de cailloux),^[9] in 2010 for Wajdi Mouawad's Forests (Forêts)^[10] and in 2019 for Mouawad's Birds of a Kind (Tous des oiseaux);^[11] and the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for Drama for Bouchard's Tom at the Farm (Tom à la ferme).^[12]

She was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015 ^[13] and Officer of the Ordre National du Québec in 2023.^[14]

Personal life

Gaboriau was previously married to Montreal city councillor Nick Auf der Maur,^{[2][better source needed]} and is the mother of rock musician Melissa Auf der Maur.^[15] She and her late partner of 35 years, author and professor Hervé de Fontenay, have one son, architect Yves de Fontenay.^[2]

Works translated

A selected list of Gaboriau's translations includes:

• 1983 — Saga of the Wet Hens (Jovette Marchessault, La Saga des poules mouillées)
• 1987 — Being at Home with Claude (René-Daniel Dubois, Being at Home with Claude)
• 1989 — Warriors (Michel Garneau, Les guerriers)
• 1991 — Lilies (Michel Marc Bouchard, Les feluettes)
• 1992 — The Magnificent Voyage of Emily Carr (Jovette Marchessault, Le voyage magnifique d'Emily Carr)
• 1993 — The Eye Is an Eagle (Pierre Morency, L'Œil américain)
• 1993 — The Orphan Muses (Michel Marc Bouchard, Les muses orphelines)
• 1996 — American Notebooks (Marie-Claire Blais, Notes américaines/Parcours d'un écrivain)
• 1996 — Stone and Ashes (Daniel Danis, Cendres de cailloux)
• 1998 — That Woman (Daniel Danis, Celle-là)
• 1998 — The Tale of Teeka (Michel Marc Bouchard, L'histoire de l'oie)
• 1998 — Fragments of a Farewell Letter Read by Geologists (Normand Chaurette, Fragments d'une lettre d'adieu lus par des géologues)
• 1998 — The Queens (Normand Chaurette, Les Reines)
• 1998 — For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again (Michel Tremblay, Encore une fois, si vous le permettez)
• 1999 — The Coronation Voyage (Michel Marc Bouchard, Le voyage du Couronnement)
• 1999 — Song of the Say-Sayer (Daniel Danis, La chant du Dire-Dire)
• 2000 — Down Dangerous Passes Road (Michel Marc Bouchard, Le chemin des Passes-dangereuses)
• 2000 — All the Verdis of Venice (Normand Chaurette, Je vous écris du Caire)
• 2002 — Impromptu on Nuns' Island (Michel Tremblay, L'État des lieux)
• 2003 — Scattered in a Rising Wind (Jean-Marc Dalpé, Un vent se lève qui éparpille)
• 2004 — Written on Water (Michel Marc Bouchard, Les manuscrits du déluge)
• 2004 — Past Perfect (Michel Tremblay, Le passé antérieur)
• 2005 — Scorched (Wajdi Mouawad, Incendies)
• 2006 — Assorted Candies (Michel Tremblay, Bonbons assortis)
• 2009 — Albertine in Five Times (Michel Tremblay, Albertine, en cinq temps)
• 2010 — Forests (Wajdi Mouawad, Forêts)
• 2013 — Heavens (Wajdi Mouawad, Ciels)
• 2014 — Christina, The Girl King (Michel Marc Bouchard, Christine, la reine-garçon)
• 2015 — Tom at the Farm (Michel Marc Bouchard, Tom à la ferme)
• 2015 — The Divine, A Play for Sarah Bernhardt (Michel Marc Bouchard, La Divine illusion)
• 2015 — Yours Forever, Marie-Lou (Michel Tremblay, À toi, pour toujours, ta Marie-Lou)
• 2017 — Anima (Wajdi Mouawad, Anima)
• 2019 — Birds of a Kind (Wajdi Mouawad, Tous des oiseaux)
• 2019 — Rite of Passage (Michel Tremblay, Le Passage obligé)
• 2022 — Kisses Deep (Michel Marc Bouchard, Embrasse)
• 2022 — Twists of Fate (Michel Tremblay, Au hasard la chance et Les cléfs du Paradise)