Linda Gaboriau (née Johnson)[1] is a Canadian dramaturg and literary translator who has translated some 125 plays and novels by Quebec writers, including many of the Quebec plays best known to English-speaking audiences.[2]
A native of Boston,[1] she moved to Montreal in 1963 to pursue her studies at McGill University where she obtained a B.A. and M.A. in French language and literature.[1] While a student, she was briefly married to a man whose surname was Gaboriau; although the marriage was short-lived, she kept his surname as her professional pen name.[1]
She has worked as a freelance journalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Radio Canada and the Montreal Gazette,[1] pursued a career in Canadian and Quebec theatre and, in the 2000s, served as the founding director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre.[3]
Her translations have garnered many awards, including three Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Awards for Michel Marc Bouchard's Lilies (Les Feluettes) in 1992,[4] Normand Chaurette's The Queens (Les Reines) in 1993[5] and Bouchard's The Orphan Muses (Les Muses orphelines) in 1999;[6] the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play in 1991 for Lilies[7] and in 2000 for Michel Tremblay's For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again (Encore une fois si vous permettez);[8] three Governor General's Awards for French to English translation in 1996 for Daniel Danis's Stone and Ashes (Cendres de cailloux),[9] in 2010 for Wajdi Mouawad's Forests (Forêts)[10] and in 2019 for Mouawad's Birds of a Kind (Tous des oiseaux);[11] and the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for Drama for Bouchard's Tom at the Farm (Tom à la ferme).[12]
She was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015 [13] and Officer of the Ordre National du Québec in 2023.[14]
Gaboriau was previously married to Montreal city councillor Nick Auf der Maur,[2][better source needed] and is the mother of rock musician Melissa Auf der Maur.[15] She and her late partner of 35 years, author and professor Hervé de Fontenay, have one son, architect Yves de Fontenay.[2]
A selected list of Gaboriau's translations includes: