Normand Chaurette
Normand Chaurette (born July 9, 1954 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian playwright, best known as one of the first prominent writers of LGBT-themed plays in Quebec and Canada. Chaurette's career began in 1976 with "Rêve d'une nuit d'hôpital", a radio play broadcast by Radio-Canada and inspired by the life of Émile Nelligan. The play won the international Prix Paul-Gilson for francophone radio drama, and was later presented in a stage format in 1980. His second play, "Provincetown Playhouse, juillet 1919, j'avais 19 ans", was staged in 1981. His 1991 play "Les reines" became  the first theatre piece by a Quebec writer to be staged at the Comédie-Française. He is a three-time winner of the Governor General's Award for French-language drama, for "Le Passage de l'Indiana" in 1996, "Le Petit Köchel" in 2001 and "Ce qui meurt en dernier" in 2011, and was nominated for "Fragments d'une lettre d'adieu lus par des géologues" in 1986. He has also published a novel, "Scènes d'enfants", which was nominated for the Governor General's Award for French-language fiction in 1988, and a non-fiction book, "Comment tuer Shakespeare", which won the Governor  General's Award for French-language non-fiction in 2012. He won a Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award in 1993 for "Les reines". He has also translated a number of plays into French, including Friedrich Schiller's "Mary Stuart", Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" and works by Shakespeare. As well, his translation of "Romeo and Juliet" was directed by Yves Desgagné as the 2006 film "Roméo et Juliette", He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2004.