WIN $150 GIFT VOUCHERS: ALADDIN'S GOLD
Martine Desjardins was born in the Town of Mount Royal, Qubec, in 1957. The second child of six, she started writing short stories when she was seventeen. After receiving a bachelor's degree in Russian and Italian studies at the Universit de Montral, she went on to complete a master's degree in comparative literature, exploring humour in Dostoevsky's The Devils. She worked as an assistant editor-in-chief at ELLEQubec magazine for four years before leaving to devote herself to writing. Her first novel, Le cercle de Clara, was published by Lemac in 1997, and was nominated for both the Prix littraires du Qubec and the Grand Prix des lectrices de ELLE Qubec in 1998. Talonbooks has published six translations of her more recent novels, including Maleficium, a tour de force short-listed for the 2010 Governor General's Literary Award for French Fiction and Qubec Prix des libraires.
