In a ceremony Friday morning, Governor General David Johnston bestowed the honour of Officer of the Order of Canada on francophone poet, novelist, and essayist Hélène Dorion. In a press release issued by the Governor General’s office, Dorion is described as “a leading figure in contemporary francophone literature” who has created an “impressive body of work in which she questions the very essence and unchanging nature of human beings.”

The author of Days of Sand (Cormorant Books), No End to the World (Guernica Editions), and The Edges of Light (Guernica), Dorion’s work has been translated in more than 15 languages. The Order is the latest in a series of prestigious honours and awards she has won throughout her career, including the Governor General Literary Award for Poetry (2006), the Prix Anne-Hébert (2004), and the Alain Grandbois Prize (1996). In 2005, she was the first female poet from Quebec to win France’s Mallarmé prize. Dorion was previously named a knight of the National Order of Quebec and a member of the Quebec Academy of Letters.