by Marie-Linda Lord

Antonine Maillet and Marguerite Maillet
Two exceptional Canadian literary women

Antonine Maillet and Marguerite Maillet are two of the most important figureheads of Acadian literature. Distant cousins, they have been connected in many ways throughout their lives. They were born five years apart in their neighbouring villages in New Brunswick: Antonine in Bouctouche in 1929 and Marguerite in Saint-Norbert in 1924. They died five weeks apart in 2025: Antonine at 95 on February 17 in Montréal, and Marguerite at 101 on March 27 in Moncton. They crossed paths within the congregation of Religieuses de Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur where they both taught literature at the Collège Notre-Dame d’Acadie in Moncton. Both left the congregation in 1967/1968 to pursue their careers: Antonine as a writer and Marguerite first as a teacher and researcher at Université de Moncton and later as an author and publisher.

Larger than life, Antonine Maillet is a true writer in the noblest sense of the term. She imagined a world, wrote a language, created a body of work, publishing more than 40 books. With her extraordinary determination, she participated in the modernization of Acadie by providing literary work in French for more than six decades, French being the pillar of the identity and hope of her people. From one book to the next, Maillet took a different and critical look at the world around her, a look that was sometimes difficult to penetrate and read because of its depth and insight. She combined, throughout her books, speaking out, transmitting memory and fictional writing.She created female protagonists who, in the text and the collective imagination, became spokespeople, liberating figures who undeniably leave their mark and who, above all, stand the test of time, as evidenced by the popularity of La Sagouine and the teaching of her books in universities around the world. In 1979, Pélagie-la-Charrette won the most prestigious literary prize in the Francophonie, Prix Goncour. Antonine Maillet enjoyed both popular successand critical acclaim, a rare occurrence in the literary world.

Modern at heart, Marguerite Maillet was both a visionary and a pioneer of Acadian literature. During her academic career, Maillet worked tirelessly to promote Acadian literature by teaching among other things reference works such as the first Anthologie de textes littéraires acadiens: 1606-1975, the first Histoire de la littérature acadienne, Réceptiondes œuvres d’Antonine Maillet and two bibliographies of Acadian publications. After her retirement, Maillet wanted to pursue her work of promoting Acadian literature but for another audience. At the age of 72, she founded the first youth Acadian publishing house, Bouton d’or Acadie, in1996, which was sold in 2012 and which still exists. She wrote more than a dozen children’s books and published dozens of authors. She was very innovative in creating various projects including a collection of Wabanaki First Nations tales, published in three languages.

Both Antonine Maillet and Marguerite Maillet, in their own acadianité, undeniably leave an invaluable legacy to Canadian literature. ■

MARIE-LINDA LORD is a retired professor from the Université de Moncton (1989-2024) where she directed the Research Chair in Acadian Studies (2007-2011).