Alice Parizeau
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Alice Parizeau (born Alice Poznanska) on July 25, 1930 in Luniniec, near Cracow, Poland – died September 30, 1990 in Outremont, Quebec, Canada was a jewish writer, essayist, and journalist.
During World War II, her family were prisoners in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after the German invasion of Warsaw. Her father, a wealthy industrialist, did not survive the death camp.
In France, she studied law and political science and in 1955 visited Quebec where she decided to live when she was offered the chance to set up a public library in Montreal. She married Jacques Parizeau, an economist and Quebec politician, over whom she had a tremendous influence.
She won the Prix européen de l'Association des écrivains de langue française in 1982 for her novel Les lilas fleurissent à Varsovie (The lilacs are blooming in Warsaw).
In 1988, she was made a member of the Order of Canada. In Quebec, many members of the Quebec sovereignty movement, including the Press, criticised her for accepting an award from the Government of Canada.
The "École Alice Parizeau" in Montreal and the "Bibliothèque Alice-Parizeau" in Saint-Esprit, Quebec were named in her honor.
Works
- Les solitudes humaines (1962)
- Voyage en pologne (1963)
- Fuir (1963)
- Survivre (1964)
- Une Québécoise en Europe rouge (1965)
- Rue Sherbrooke Ouest (1967)
- Les lilas fleurissent à Varsovie (1981)
- Côte-des-neiges (1983)
- Blizzard sur Québec (1987)