Biography

Originally from the town of Asbestos, Pauline Michel is an author, playwright, actress, singer and teacher.

She received a bachelor of pedagogy from the Université de Sherbrooke, a Brevet A teacher's certificate from the École normale Marguerite Bourgeois, and a licence ès lettres modernes from Laval University. She has taken courses in dance, singing and theatre for several years.

She has been a secondary school teacher. She taught literature – in particular theatre and poetry – at the Cegep de Sherbrooke for four years and has led writing workshops at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

She was one of the four originators of the television series La maison de Ouimzie, produced by CINAR and sold in one hundred countries. She has written scripts for a number of broadcasts with Radio-Canada, Télé-Métropole, TV Ontario and Télé-Québec, where she also worked as an educational program expert. She has been a lyricist on the young people’s series Hello Moineau, which was broadcast in Quebec, France, Switzerland and North Africa.

She has published a number of books, including novels (Les yeux d’eau, Mirage, reedited by Lanctôt), poetry (L'oeil sauvage), a philosophical allegory (Le papillon de Vénus), songbooks (Hello Moineau, Voyez comme ils s’aiment, Le tour du monde) and children’s tales, including one for the series Passe-Partout. She has taken part in writing textbooks, including three books in the collection Systèmes published by Graficor. Her novellas and poems have also been published in anthologies by Humanitas, Arcade, Triptyque and Brèves littéraires.

Some of her work has been translated:

- L’assiette-à-tourmente : a novella translated into Chinese and published in a Chinese anthology of Québec authors.
- Les héritières d’Esther Blondin : a video with text translated into English and Spanish.
- Le tour du monde : some of the children’s songs have been translated into English by Nigel Spencer.

Winner of the “Québec en chansons” contest, she has gone on a number of “poetry and song” tours in Canada (Rencontre internationale de la francophonie, Les Francofolies de Montréal, Festival international de la littérature), in Africa and in France where she has given a number of recitals (Cirque d’Hiver, Relais Culturel de Wissembourg, cultural centres…) and has participated in a number of events (Quebec weeks, free radio celebrations, literary decades including the Atelier Imaginaire for three years). In 1984, she wrote a musical “Sors de ta cage” with music created by Roger Le Sourd and Philippe Bécaud - the son of Gilbert Bécaud. She presented and performed the musical at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris and in cultural centres throughout Quebec.

For five years, she wrote, produced and performed for children to give them a poetic and philosophical view of life. One journalist, Guylaine Fortin, called her the Ensorceleuse d’enfants (the bewitcher of children).

In the two years before her appointment, she wrote two plays: Au fil de l'autre (Duchesne Éditeur in 2004) and On perd la boule, for actress Angèle Coutu. She thus divided her time between teaching, writing and acting, and tried to break down the barriers between the various ages of life, which she feels are nothing but a shift in time through the various stages of existence.

Fascinated by communication, she has tried to explore many different forms and genres.
She has won a number of prizes and awards:

Grant from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs
for the play: Farfelu ou les sens ensorceleurs.
She wrote the play and the lyrics (and spent two years touring primary schools).

Winner of the Québec en chansons contest.
Show at the Grand Théâtre de Québec with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec.

Adate à Production 89 PRIZE
La poupée abandonnée

Multi-Média Productions Studio André Perry
Text and scenario by Pauline Michel

Bursary from the Canadian embassy in PARIS
For the tour Atelier imaginaire in south western France.

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