Marie Uguay was a French Canadian

French Canadian

French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...

 poet from the province of Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

.

She was born in the former town of Ville-Émard

Ville-Émard

Ville-Émard is a neighbourhood located in the Sud-Ouest borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and is the home of Angrignon Park.-Geography:This neighbourhood is bordered by the Aqueduct Canal, the borough of Verdun and the neighbourhood of Côte-Saint-Paul to the east, the borough of LaSalle to the...

 which has now become a district of the city of Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

.

A victim of bone cancer, she had her right leg amputated at the age of 21 while she was still undergoing studies at the Université du Québec à Montréal

Université du Québec à Montréal

The Université du Québec à Montréal is one of four universities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Basic facts:The UQAM is the largest constituent element of the Université du Québec , a public university system with other branches in Gatineau , Rimouski, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec City, Chicoutimi, and...

 in literature. She died at the age of 26, from cancer, on October 26, 1981.

A cultural center in Ville-Émard was named for Uguay after her death and is still open today, as well as a public library.

Childhood

She was born with the name Marie Lalonde but eventually borrowed her maternal grandfather's name in his honor. He was a violin teacher, an amateur of literature and she viewed him as a role model. She began writing very early, first writing stories for her pleasure. Soon she began writing poetry as she appreciated how full of life a text could become through poetic verses.

Original works

• Signe et rumeur (1976)
• L'Outre-vie (1979)
• Autoportraits (1982) (posthumous)
• Journal 2005 (posthumous)

Works translated into English

• Selected poems (1975-1981) (translated by Daniel Sloate
  Daniel Sloate
  Daniel Sloate was a Canadian translator, poet and playwright.Sloate attended the University of Western Ontario and obtained a doctorate in French literature from the Sorbonne...
  
  )