Louis Hémon (12 October 1880 – 8 July 1913), was a French writer, best known for his novel Maria Chapdelaine.
Louis Hémon was born in Brest, France. In Paris, where he resided with his family, he was enrolled in the Montaigne and Louis-le-Grand secondary schools. A bilingual secretary in several maritime agencies, he collaborated, starting from 1904, in a Parisian sports journal. After his studies of law and oriental languages in the Sorbonne, he moved to London.
In 1911, he moved to Canada, settling initially in Montreal. Hémon wrote Maria Chapdelaine during his time working at a farm in the Lac Saint-Jean region.
Hémon died when he was struck by a train at Chapleau, Ontario. He never saw the widespread publication of his landmark novel.
Since his death, Maria Chapdelaine has been translated into more than 20 languages in 23 countries, while other novels were published posthumously. The work was also celebrated through a series of paintings by Canadian artist, Rajka Kupesic.
Hémon had one daughter, Lydia-Kathleen, from a relationship in England with Lydia O'Kelly.
He is the subject of two biographical studies, L'aventure Louis Hémon (1974) by Alfred Ayotte and Victor Tremblay, and Louis Hémon, le fou du lac by Mathieu-Robert Sauvé.
1926: Battling Malone, pugiliste
1950: Monsieur Ripois et la Némésis
Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
Works by Louis Hémon in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
Works by Louis Hémon at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Louis Hémon at the Internet Archive
Works by Louis Hémon at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Collections Canada: Louis Hémon Archived 12 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 3 July 2006
Bookrags: Louis Hémon, accessed 3 July 2006
Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hemon at Project Gutenberg