Marie Uguay

It has become a district of the city of Montreal. Diagnosed with bone cancer, Uguay had to have her right leg amputated at the age of 21. She was still studying literature at the Université du Québec à Montréal in literature. A cultural center in Ville-Émard was named for Uguay after her death. It still operates to day and also includes a public library.

She was named Marie Lalonde at birth but eventually took her maternal grandfather's surname in his honor. He was a violin teacher, an amateur in literature, and she viewed him as a role model. She began writing very early, first stories for her pleasure. Soon she began writing poetry, appreciating how full of life a text could become through poetic verses.

Uguay's poetry is marked by her reflections on Québec separatism, the feminist movement, and on her illness. The critic Ben Libman has compared Uguay's prodigious brilliance to that of John Keats and Jules Laforgue. He writes "What astonishes about Uguay’s poetry, then, is not the maturity that, despite itself, is youthful but the youthfulness that, despite itself, is mature."

• Signe et rumeur (1976) • L'Outre-vie (1979) • Autoportraits (1982) (posthumous) • Journal 2005 (posthumous)

• Selected poems (1975-1981) (translated by Daniel Sloate)