Dal grad wins Governor General's Award

Annette Hayward. (Nick Pearce Photo)

Congratulations to Dalhousie grad Annette Hayward French, who won the Governor's General Literary Award in the French, non-fiction category.

The Queen's University French professor won the prestigious prize for La querelle du régionalisme au Québec (1904-1931): Vers l’autonomisation de la littérature québécoise.

According to the jury, "Annette Hayward sheds a decisive light on the quarrel that opposed regionalist writers and the so-called ‘exotic’ poets in the first decades of the 20th century. The result is a resounding success, and a model of literary historiography. With a sober and elegant style, the author combines fine analysis, rigorous methodology and a careful treatment of documentary sources."

Dr. Hayward teaches in the French Studies department at Queen’s, focusing on Quebec and French-Canadian literature, in particular the institution of literature and writing by women.

Dr. Hayward, who has a master's degree from Dalhousie University and a bachelor of arts from the University of King's College, is currently doing research on the Anglo-Canadian critical reception of Quebec literature. La querelle du régionalisme au Québec was her doctoral thesis (1980). Considered a pioneering work, based on exhaustive research that still stands as a benchmark of reference, it is now accessible to a wider reading public. Its publication earned it the Prix Gabrielle-Roy (2005) as well as her first Governor General’s Award. Dr.. Hayward was born in Newfoundland and lived in Quebec prior to moving to Kingston.