Editing Roch Carrier

{{Short description|French Canadian writer}}
{{Infobox writer  <!--For more information, see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]].-->
| name         = Roch Carrier
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|FRSC|size=100%}}
| image        = Roch Carrier, recent.jpg
| caption      = Carrier in 2006
| birth_date   = {{birth date and age|df=y|1937|05|13}}
| birth_place  = [[Sainte-Justine, Quebec]], Canada
| language     = French
| notableworks = ''[[The Hockey Sweater]]''
| awards       = [[Order of Canada]]
}}

'''Roch Carrier''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|FRSC}} (born 13 May 1937) is a [[French Canadian]] novelist and author of "contes" (a very brief form of the [[short story]]). He is among the best known Quebec writers in English Canada.<ref name=stratford/>

==Life==

He was born in [[Sainte-Justine, Quebec]], and studied at  [[Collège St-Louis]] in [[New Brunswick]], the [[Université de Montréal]] in Quebec, and at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]], in [[Paris]], France, where he received a doctorate in literature.

From 1994 to 1997, he served as head of the [[Canada Council]]. In [[1998 Quebec general election|1998]], he ran as an electoral candidate for the [[Quebec Liberal Party]] under [[Jean Charest]], in the riding of [[Crémazie (electoral district)|Crémazie]]. He was defeated by 309 votes.

In 1991, he was made an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]]. From 1999 to 2004, Carrier was [[Library and Archives Canada|National Librarian of Canada]]. With [[Ian E. Wilson]], the then National Archivist, he developed the process to unify the National Archive and National Library.

In 1992, Carrier's ''Prayers of a Very Wise Child'' (''Prières d'un enfant très très sage'') won the [[Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour]].

Carrier championed [[Jacques Poulin]]'s novel ''[[Volkswagen Blues]]'' in ''[[Canada Reads|Canada Reads 2005]]''.

Also involved in [[theatre]] (having served as [[playwright]] at the [[Théâtre du Nouveau Monde]]), Carrier has adapted ''La guerre, yes sir!'' and ''Floralie, où es-tu?'' for the stage. ''La guerre, yes sir!'' was produced as a play in 1970, was performed in English at the Stratford festival, and has been made into a film. ''Floralie, où es-tu?'' was performed by Théâtre du Nouveau-Monde in 1974. The trilogy consisting of these two novels and ''Il est par là, le soleil'' sold better in English than in French.<ref name=stratford/>

A quote from "Le chandail de hockey" ("[[The Hockey Sweater]]"), one of Carrier's ''contes'', was reprinted on the back of the [[Canadian five-dollar bill]]. The story, about when Carrier was a young boy who orders a [[Montreal Canadiens]] sweater from the [[Eaton's]] catalogue, but receives a [[Toronto Maple Leafs]] jersey instead, is considered by many to be a literary [[allegory]] for the linguistic and cultural tensions between English and French Canadians, and is thus considered essential reading for anybody who seeks to understand the complex realities of linguistic and cultural identity in Canada. But it is also a much-beloved children's story in anglophone Canada without such complex overtones as it may have in a broader context. The [[National Film Board of Canada]] has made this story into an animated short film, narrated by Carrier in both the French and English versions.<ref>[http://www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/films/film.php?sort=director&director=Cohen%2C+Sheldon&id=13316 Play films - Focus on Animation - ONF] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070517135418/http://www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/films/film.php?sort=director&director=Cohen%2C+Sheldon&id=13316 |date=2007-05-17 }}</ref>

''Heartbreaks Along The Road'' (''De l'amour dans la ferraille'') is a work of [[magical realism]] - he pokes fun at political and religious figures, using ridiculous scenarios, and exaggerated personality characteristics, while telling the story from different characters' points of view.  There are many levels to his satire and his writing is flowery and descriptive.

[[Sheila Fischman]] has won various awards for translation of his books into English.

Two schools are named after Roch Carrier: Roch Carrier French Immersion Public School in [[Woodstock, Ontario]], and Roch Carrier Elementary School in [[Kanata, Ontario]].

Roch Carrier was president on the board of directors for Experiences Canada (formerly known as the Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada, or SEVEC) from 2008 to 2009. Upon his retirement from the board he was made an Honorary Member. 

==Selected works==

[[File:Roch Carrier as a child.jpg|thumb|250px|Roch Carrier as a young boy]]
* ''Jolis deuils: Petites tragédies pour adults'' &mdash; 1964
* ''La guerre, yes sir!'' &mdash; 1968 (translated as ''La Guerre, Yes Sir!'' &mdash; 1970) {{ISBN|0-88784-626-2}}
* ''Floralie, où es-tu ?'' &mdash; 1969 (translated as ''Floralie, Where Are You?'' &mdash; 1971) 
* ''Il est par là, le soleil'' &mdash; 1970 (translated as ''Is It the Sun, Philibert?'' &mdash; 1972)
* ''Le deux-millième étage'' &mdash; 1973 (translated as ''They Won't Demolish Me!'' &mdash; 1974)
* ''Le jardin des délices'' &mdash; 1975 (translated as ''The Garden of Delights'' &mdash; 1978) 
* ''Il n'y a pas de pays sans grand-père'' &mdash; 1977 (translated as ''No Country Without Grandfathers'' &mdash; 1981) 
* ''Les Enfants du bonhomme dans la lune'' &mdash; 1979 (translated as ''The Hockey Sweater and other stories'' &mdash; 1979)
* ''Les voyageurs de l'arc-en-ciel'' &mdash; 1980 illustration & book design by François Olivier
* ''Céleste bicyclette'' &mdash; 1980 (translated as ''The Celestial Bicycle'')
* ''La dame qui avait des chaînes aux chevilles'' &mdash; 1981 (translated as ''Lady with Chains'')
* ''Le cirque noir'' &mdash; 1982
* ''Ne faites pas mal à l'avenir'' &mdash; 1984
* ''De l'amour dans la ferraille'' &mdash; 1984 (translated as ''Heartbreaks Along The Road'')
* ''La fleur et autres personages'' &mdash; 1985
* ''Un chameau en Jordanie'' &mdash; 1988
* ''Enfants de la planète'' &mdash; 1989
* ''L'homme dans le placard'' &mdash; 1991 (translated as ''The Man in the Closet'')
* ''Le cannot dans les nuages'' &mdash; 1991
* ''Prières d'un enfant très très sage'' &mdash; 1991 (translated as ''Prayers of a Very Wise Child'')
* ''Fin'' &mdash; 1994 (translated as ''The End'')
* ''Petit homme tornade'' &mdash; 1996 (translated as ''The Lament of Charlie Longsong'')
* ''Prières d'un adolescent très très sage'' &mdash; 1998 (translated as ''Prayers of a Young Man'')
* ''Une chaise'' &mdash; 1999
* ''Les moines dans la tour'' &mdash; 2004
* ''Ma vie avec Maurice Richard'' (My life with Maurice Richard)
* ''Montcalm et Wolfe'' &mdash; 2014 (translated as ''Montcalm and Wolfe'' by Donald Winkler)

==See also==
{{Portal|Canada}}
* [[Canadian literature]]


==References==
{{Reflist <!-- |25em too few refs --> |refs=
<ref name=stratford>
Philip Stratford, ed. ''Stories from Québec'', Van Nostrand Reinhold Ltd, 1974. {{ISBN|0-442-29910-9}}</ref>

}}

==Further reading==
*  Manfred Overmann: ''"Le chandail de Hockey." Didactisation du conte de Roch Carrier et du court métrage animé par [[Sheldon Cohen]],'' Zeitschrift für Romanische Sprachen und ihre Didaktik, 11.2, ibidem, Stuttgart 2017 {{ISBN|9783838211718}} {{ISSN|1863-1622}} pp 106 – 136 (in French)

==External links==
*[http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/roch-carrier/ Roch Carrier] in ''[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]''
* {{IMDb name|id=0140410|name=Roch Carrier}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070127200157/http://www.collectionscanada.ca/50th/012009-204-e.html Roch Carrier] at [[Library and Archives Canada]]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrier, Roch}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian librarians]]
[[Category:Canadian male novelists]]
[[Category:Canadian male short story writers]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Writers from Quebec]]
[[Category:Stephen Leacock Award winners]]
[[Category:Royal Military College Saint-Jean people]]
[[Category:Quebec Liberal Party candidates in Quebec provincial elections]]
[[Category:Canadian novelists in French]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian short story writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian male writers]]
[[Category:Canadian expatriates in France]]
[[Category:Librarians and Archivists of Canada]]
[[Category:Université de Montréal alumni]]