January 31, 2007 -

“As for me, I believe in the value of poetry, I believe in the salvation borne by every word that is precise, experienced and expressed.”
– Anne Hébert (translation)

L’Âge de la parole, the National Arts Centre (NAC) French Theatre’s 2006–07 series of Spectacles-midi (lunchtime readings with music), is devoted to the work of four great post-war Quebec poets: Roland Giguère, Gaston Miron, Anne Hébert and Paul-Marie Lapointe. On Tuesday, February 6 and Wednesday, February 7 at 12 noon, Anne Hébert (1916–2000) will be in the spotlight, with readings from several works including her anthologies Le Tombeau des rois and Mystère de la parole. The reading will be performed by actor Stéphanie Kym Tougas (Cette fille-là), directed by Dominique Lafon and accompanied by pianist Jean Desmarais playing the Prelude (1964) by Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) and five Preludes by Claude Debussy (1862–1918).

All of Anne Hébert’s anthologized poetry (except Songes en équilibre) was collected and published by Boréal/Seuil under the title Œuvre poétique (1950–1990). In his foreword, the French poet Pierre Emmanuel describes Anne Hébert’s poems as “etched in the bone as if by the point of a dagger,” and her language as “striving to be absolutely concrete, traversing every layer of the senses, from outward appearance to innermost being.” He continues, “She may use words sparingly, but all are absolutely necessary, carefully selected for their comprehensive signification. Try as you may, you will never plumb their depths.”

L’Âge de la parole: Anne Hébert
Poems by Anne Hébert • Read by Stéphanie Kym Tougas • Directed by Dominique Lafon
Music by Olivier Messiaen and Claude Debussy
Music selection and piano accompaniment by Jean Desmarais
Artistic coordination by Paul Lefebvre • Stage management by Dalelle Mensour
Presented by the National Arts Centre French Theatre
in association with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Fourth Stage

February 6 and 7, 2007 from 12:00 to 13:00
National Arts Centre / Fourth Stage
53 Elgin Street, Ottawa, Ontario

Tickets: Regular $16, Student $8
On sale in person at the NAC Box Office (no service charges) or through Ticketmaster (at all Ticketmaster outlets or by ‘phone, 613-755-1111) or online at www.nac-cna.ca

Poet and novelist Anne Hébert (1916–2000)

Anne Hébert was born August 1, 1916 at Sainte-Catherine-de-Fossambault (known today as Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier), Quebec. She studied at Quebec City’s Collège Notre-Dame de Bellevue and Collège Mérici. She published her first poems in 1939; her first anthology, Les Songes en équilibre, appeared in 1942 and won the 1943 Prix Athanase-David literary award. Between 1950 and 1954 she worked as a radio scriptwriter for Radio-Canada (Quebec) and as a screenwriter and editor for the National Film Board. She lived in Paris for three years (1954–57) and subsequently divided her time between that city and Montreal before settling permanently in Paris in 1967. She moved back to Quebec in the spring of 1997.

Anne Hébert’s numerous literary awards and honours include the Prix Athanase-David (1943, 1952); the Prix Duvernay for her body of poetic work; the Prix Québec-Paris for Les Chambres de bois (1958); the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry (1960); the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize (1967); the Prix des Libraires de France and the Royal Academy of Belgium’s Prix de littérature hors de France (1971) for Kamouraska; the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Prix de l'Académie française (1975) for Les Enfants du Sabbat; the Prix Prince-Pierre de Monaco and the Prix Athanase-David (1976 and 1978) for her lifetime literary achievement; the Prix Fémina (1982) for Les Fous de Bassan; the Médaille annuelle awarded by the Académie des lettres du Québec (1984); the Prix Canada-Belgique (1988) and the Governor General’s Literary Award (1992) for L'Enfant chargé de songes; the Prix Alain-Grandbois (1993) for Le jour n'a d'égal que la nuit; the Prix Gilles-Corbeil (1993) for her lifetime literary achievement; and the Prix littéraire France-Québec/Jean Hamelin (2000) for her novel Un habit de lumière. She received honorary degrees from several Canadian universities: Toronto (1969), Guelph (1970), UQAM (1979), McGill (1980), Laval (1983), Sherbrooke (1993). Her novels Kamouraska and Les Fous de Bassan were adapted for the screen by Claude Jutra and Yves Simoneau, respectively. Anne Hébert was an honorary life member of the Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois. She died on January 22, 2000.

The NAC French Theatre gratefully acknowledges the support of Radio-Canada La Première Chaîne 90.7 FM, media partner for the Spectacles-midi reading series.

- 30 -

For more information, please contact:
Guy Warin, Communications & Media Relations Officer
French Theatre – Canada’s National Arts Centre
(613) 947-7000 or 1 866 850-2787, ext. 759
gwarin@nac-cna.ca