Michel Jean

Sarah Gordon (Utah State University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.1.5: Indigenous Writing and Culture of North America - Canada.
Vol. editors: Joshua Bartlett (High Point University), Renate Eigenbrod (University of Manitoba), Sarah Henzi (Simon Fraser University), Padraig Kirwan (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Glen Nichols (Mount Allison University), Wendy Roy (University of Saskatchewan), Denis Salter (McGill University), Karis Shearer (University of British Columbia)

Dates

Born 22 Mar 1960
Activity 2009-ongoing

Places

Born in Canada
Active in Canada

Cultural Identities

First Nations/Indigenous Canadian

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Story-writer

Resources

Jean's Works

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Michel Jean is a Canadian novelist and journalist of French expression and Innu origin. A leading Indigenous author, with over a dozen books, Jean paints a picture of the Indigenous experience in the landscapes of Quebec, both past and present. Several works center on his Innu origins and the lives of relatives, for example the novel

Elle et Nous

[She and Us]

(2009, reissued in 2012, and reissued again entitled

Atuk, elle et nous

[Atuk, she and us]

in 2021) and the novel

Kukum

[Kukum]

(2019).

Kukum was the first of Jean’s works translated into English. With a prize-winning English translation (2023), the already successful Kukum is gaining increased international and scholarly attention. Kukum is a first-person novel that recounts the experience of Jean’s own great-grandmother, Almanda

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1126 words

Citation: Gordon, Sarah. "Michel Jean". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 May 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=15227, accessed 24 November 2024.]