Louis-Honoré Fréchette, (November 16, 1839 - May 31, 1908), poet, playwright, and short story writer born in Lévis, Québec, Canada.

Biography

From 1854 to 1860, did his classical studies at the Séminaire de Québec, the Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière and at the Séminaire de Nicolet. He later studied law at Laval University.

In 1864, he opened a lawyer's office in Lévis where he founded two newspapers: Le drapeau de Lévis and La Tribune de Levis. He exiled himself in Chicago where he wrote La voix d'un exilé. A number of plays which he wrote during that period were lost in the Great Chicago Fire.

Soon after he returned home in 1874, he was elected Member of the federal Parliament in Ottawa. He was not re-elected in 1878. After that, he moved to Montreal where he began writing full time, having inherited the wealth of his aunt when she died.

He was the first Quebecer to receive the Montyon prize of the Académie française for his collection of poems Les Fleurs boréales.

Notable Works

Poems

• La voix d'un exilé (1866)
• La découverte du Mississippi (1873)
• La Légende d'un peuple (1877)
• Les Fleurs boréales (1879)

Stories

• L'Iroquoise du lac Saint-Pierre (1861)
• Originaux et détraqués (1892), based on real life characters
• Les contes de Jos Violon
• Christmas in French Canada (1899)

Plays

• Le retour de l'exilé (1880)
• Papineau (1880)
• Félix Poutré (1892)

External links

• Notice biographique de Louis Fréchette at L'ÎLE (in French)