'It's a very sad day': N.B. mourns loss of novelist, playwright Antonine Maillet
The internationally renowned Acadian died Monday in her Montreal home. She was 95.
"It's a very sad day, but we are so grateful for everything that she has done," said Monique Poirier, executive and artistic director of Le Pays de la Sagouine, the theatrical village in Bouctouche, N.B., where Maillet was born in 1929.
Le Pays de la Sagouine brings to life the characters Maillet created, including her famous La Sagouine. That play was first staged in 1971 with Viola Leger in the title role.
La Sagouine is just one of 20 novels and 12 plays Maillet wrote.
Poirier said it is because of Maillet's vision and her courage to write that hundreds of artists in New Brunswick are able to work in their home province doing what they love.
Before Maillet became famous, she taught at the Université de Moncton from 1964 to 1967. According to a statement from the university, her former students remember her as an outstanding speaker.
"The death of Ms. Antonine Maillet is a moment of great sadness for Acadia, New Brunswick and the entire Francophonie," Université de Moncton rector and vice-chancellor Denis Prud'homme said in a statement to CBC News.
"Madame Maillet was an unconditional friend, a generous benefactor and a great ambassador of the Université de Moncton. Her unwavering commitment to the largest Acadian institution was very important and leaves a lasting legacy."
She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university in 1972 and the order of merit by alumni.
Maillet was later named chancellor of the Université de Moncton in 1989, becoming the first woman to hold that title.
Flags at the university's three campuses will fly at half-mast in Maillet's honour for 10 days, starting Monday.
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