| François Ricard | |
| Birth Date: | 4 June 1947 |
| Birth Place: | Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada |
| Death Place: | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Occupation: | Writer, academic |
| Period: | 1980s – 2022 |
| Notableworks: | La littérature contre elle-même, Gabrielle Roy, une vie |
| Awards: | Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize |
François Ricard (4 June 1947 – 17 February 2022) was a Canadian writer and academic from Quebec.[1] He was a professor of French literature at McGill University since 1980, including a special but not exclusive focus on the work of Milan Kundera and Gabrielle Roy, and has published numerous works of non-fiction.
Born and raised in Shawinigan,[2] Ricard was educated at McGill University and the University of Provence.[2]
He was a founder of the literary journal Liberté,[2] has served on the editorial boards of the publishing houses Éditions Sentier and Éditions du Boréal,[2] and has contributed to both Radio-Canada and Télé-Québec as a literature reviewer and a host of documentary programming on Quebec literature and history.[2]
Ricard died in Montreal on 17 February 2022, at the age of 74.[3] [4]
He won the Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction at the 1985 Governor General's Awards for La littérature contre elle-même,[1] and Gabrielle Roy: A Life, an English translation by Patricia Claxton of his 1996 book Gabrielle Roy, une vie, won the 1999 Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize[5] and the Governor General's Award for French to English translation at the 1999 Governor General's Awards.[6] The original French edition of Gabrielle Roy, une vie was a shortlisted nominee for the Governor General's Award at the 1997 Governor General's Awards,[7] and Le dernier après-midi d’Agnès: essai sur l’oeuvre de Milan Kundera was nominated at the 2003 Governor General's Awards.[8]