Catherine Poulain (born 1960) is a French writer.
Life Born in Barr, Poulain left France at the age of twenty and travelled on various continents. She arrived in Quebec in 1987, then settled in Alaska where she worked as a fisherman for ten years before being deported in 2003 by the American immigration services for illegal work.Catherine Poulain, une vie à sa main by Nathalie Raulin in Libération dated 19 June 2016.Catherine Poulain : "Être une petite femelle, c'est pas pour moi" by Jérôme Garcin in L'Obs dated 11 February 2016.
A few years after her return to France - where she lived from various agricultural works in Provence and the Alps - Poulain drew on her overseas experiences to help write her first novel, Le Grand Marin (Woman at Sea), which was described as a wild, gripping story of one woman’s battle with the elements on board an Alaskan fishing boat. It became a best-seller (70,000 copies sold in the months following its publication) and was awarded numerous literary prizes in 2016, including the Prix Joseph-Kessel, and the Ouest France Prize Étonnants Voyageurs.7 prix et 30.500 euros pour Catherine Poulain by Anne Crignon in L'Obs dated 17 May 2016. Poulain was also a finalist for the Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman, but was beaten by four votes to five by Joseph AndrasGoncourt du premier roman à Joseph Andras in Le Figaro dated 9 May 2016.
Her second novel, Le Cœur blanc, was selected for the Prix Décembre 2018.
Works 2016: , Éditions de l'Olivier – prix Joseph-Kessel and eleven other maritime or travel writer literary prizes.Catherine Poulain et Isabelle Carré, deux passionnées de l'océan by in Madame Figaro dated 9 January 2017. 2018: Le Cœur blanc, Éditions de l'Olivier
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