Paul Toupin (December 7, 1918 – March 8, 1993) was a Quebec journalist, essayist and playwright."Toupin, Paul". Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia, April 20, 2012.
Early life and education Born in Montreal on December 7, 1918,"Paul Toupin". The Canadian Encyclopedia, February 7, 2008. he studied at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, the Sorbonne, Columbia University and Aix-Marseille University."Paul Toupin". L'infocentre littéraire des écrivains québécois.
Career In addition to his writing and journalism, he taught at the Université de Sherbrooke and Loyola University.
His plays included Le Choix (1951), Brutus (1952), Le Mensonge (1960), Chacun son amour (1961) and Son dernier rôle (1979). Alongside poet Paul Chamberland and novelist Jean-Paul Pinsonneault, he was one of the first prominent openly gay writers in Quebec literature, addressing gay themes in his 1964 essay collection L'Écrivain et son théâtre and writing more openly about his own sexuality in his memoirs Mon mal vient de plus loin (1969) and Le cœur a ses raisons (1971).Tom Warner, Never Going Back: A History of Queer Activism in Canada. University of Toronto Press, 2002. . p. 54.
He won Quebec's Prix David in 1952 for Brutus,"Montreal Author Will Supervise Council Grants". The Globe and Mail, October 7, 1959. and the Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction at the 1960 Governor General's Awards for Souvenirs pour demain."Brian Moore and Frank Underhill Win Governor-General's Awards". The Globe and Mail, February 25, 1961.
Personal life He died in Montreal on March 8, 1993. The Paul Toupin Archives are kept in the Montreal archives center of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.
Honors 1950 : Prix David 1952 : Prix de littérature de la province de Québec 1960 : Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction Member of the Académie des lettres du Québec
References