Nancy Louise Huston (born September 16, 1953) is a Canadian-born novelist and essayist who writes primarily in French and auto-translates, that is, she translates her own works into English. // 1400 - Owain Glyndŵr declared Prince of Wales by his followers. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... An essayist is an author who writes compositions which can be about any particular subject. ...

Biography

Huston was born in Calgary, Alberta, the city in which she lived until age fifteen, at which time her family moved to Wilton, New Hampshire. She studied at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where she was given the opportunity to spend a year of her studies in Paris. Arriving in Paris in 1973, Huston obtained a Master's Degree from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, writing a thesis on swear words under the supervision of Roland Barthes. Nickname: Motto: Onward Location of Calgary within census division number 6, Alberta, Canada. ... Motto: Fortis et liber(Latin) Strong and free Capital Edmonton Largest city Calgary Official languages English (see below) Government - Lieutenant-Governor Norman Kwong - Premier Ed Stelmach (PC) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 28 - Senate seats 6 Confederation September 1, 1905 (split from Northwest Territories) (8th [Province]) Area Ranked... Wilton is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, USA. The population was 3,743 at the 2000 census. ... Official language(s) English Capital Concord Largest city Manchester Area  Ranked 46th  - Total 9,359 sq mi (24,239 km²)  - Width 68 miles (110 km)  - Length 190 miles (305 km)  - % water 3. ... Sarah Lawrence College is a private, liberal arts college located in metropolitan New York City, about a thirty-minute train ride north of Manhattan. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ... The École Pratique des Hautes Études is a university in Paris, France. ... Roland Barthes Roland Barthes (November 12, 1915 – March 25, 1980) (pronounced ) was a French literary critic, literary and social theorist, philosopher, and semiotician. ...

Ms. Huston lives in Paris with her husband Tzvetan Todorov and their two children. Tzvetan Todorov (Bulgarian: ) (born on March 1, 1939 in Sofia) is a Franco-Bulgarian philosopher. ...

Career

Though she had not learned French before arriving in Paris, Huston found that the combination of her eventual command of the language and her distance from it as a non-native speaker helped her to find her literary voice. Since 1980, Huston has published over nineteen books of fiction and non-fiction, including the three English versions of previously published French works. Of her novels, only Histoire d'Omaya (1985) and Trois fois septembre (1989) have not been published in English. First language (native language, mother tongue) is the language a person learns first. ...

While Huston's often controversial works of non-fiction have been well-received, her fiction has earned her the most critical acclaim. Her first novel, Les variations Goldberg (1981), was awarded the Prix Contrepoint and was shortlisted for the more prestigious Prix Femina. She translated this novel into English as The Goldberg Variations (1996). The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine La Vie heureuse (today known as Femina). ...

Her next major award came in 1993 when she was received the Canadian Governor General's Award for Fiction in French for Cantique des Plaines. Huston's win caused some controversy among Quebec literati, as the author was not a French-Canadian. Furthermore, her critics argued, the work was apparently written first in English and that version of the novel did not even make the shortlist for the same award for English-language fiction. A subsequent novel, La virevolte (1994), won the Prix "L" and the Prix Louis-Hémon. It was published in English in 1996 as Slow Emergencies. Since their creation in 1937, the Governor Generals Literary Awards have become one of Canadas most prestigious prizes, awarded in both French and English in seven categories: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Childrens Literature-Text, Childrens Literature-Illustration, and Translation. ... Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember) Capital Quebec City Largest city Montreal Official languages French Government - Lieutenant-Governor Lise Thibault - Premier Jean Charest (PLQ) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 75 - Senate seats 24 Confederation July 1, 1867 (1st) Area Ranked 2nd - Total 1,542,056 km² - Water... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Huston's novel, Instruments des ténèbres, has been her most successful novel yet, being shortlisted for the Prix Fémina, and the Governor General's Award. It was awarded the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens. The Prix Goncourt is the most prestigious prize in French literature, given to the author of the best and most imaginative prose work of the year. Edmond de Goncourt, a successful author, critic, and publisher, bequeathed his entire estate for the foundation and maintenance of the Académie Goncourt. ...

In 1998, she was nominated for a Governor General's Award for her novel L'Empreinte de l'ange. The next year she was nominated for a Governor General's Award for translating the work into English as The Mark of the Angel. The Mark of the Angel is a 1998 novel by Canadian writer Nancy Huston. ...

In 1999, she appeared in the film Emporte-moi, which she collaborated on the screenplay for. Emporte-Moi (Set Me Free or Let me be Free in English) is a 1999 French-Canadian film by director Léa Pool and starring Karine Vanasse. ...

Her works have been translated into many languages from Chinese to Russian.

In 2005, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and she received the Prix Femina in 2006 for the novel Lignes de faille. Seal of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada is Canadas highest civilian honour, with membership awarded to those who exemplify the Orders Latin motto Desiderantes meliorem patriam, which means (those) desiring a better country (Hebrews 11. ... The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine La Vie heureuse (today known as Femina). ...

Selected works

• Les variations Goldberg (1981)
• Histoire d'Omaya (1985)
• Lettres parisiennes : autopsie de l'exil (1986)
• Trois fois septembre (1989)
• Plainsong (1993)
• Cantique des plaines (1993)
• La virevolte (1994)
• Désirs et réalités : textes choisis 1978-1994 (1995)
• Instruments des ténèbres (1996)
• L'empreinte de l'ange (1998)
• Prodige : polyphonie (1999)
• Nord perdu : suivi de Douze France (1999)
• Dolce agonia (2001)
• Losing north : musings on land, tongue and self (2002)
• Une adoration (2003)
• Âmes et corps : textes choisis 1981-2003 (2004)
• Professeurs de désespoir (2004)
• Lignes de faille (2006)

Reference

Eugene Benson and William Toye, eds. The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, Second Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997: 564-565. ISBN 0-19-541167-6

External links

• Nancy Huston, dea ex machina