Yves Beauchemin

Yves Beauchemin (IPA: [iv boʃəmɛ̃]; born 26 June 1941) is a Québécois novelist.

Born in Rouyn-Noranda and raised in the village of Clova, Beauchemin received his degree in French literature and art history at the Université de Montréal in 1965. He taught literature at the Collège Garneau and Université Laval. Beauchemin was working as an editor in a Montreal publishing firm when he began contributing essays and stories to magazines and newspapers. In 1969, he accepted a position as a researcher at Radio-Québec.

Beauchemin's first novel, L'enfirouapé (1974), won the Prix France-Québec. His second novel, Le Matou (1981), became the all-time best-selling novel in French Quebec literature and has been translated into seventeen languages. This book won the Prix de la ville de Montreal and the Prix du livre de l'ete Cannes in 1982. Beauchemin won the Prix Jean Giono for his third novel, Juliette Pomerleau (1989).

In his fiction Beauchemin is a detached but caring observer of the contemporary world around him. The panoramic canvases of his novels capture the teeming life of the streets, reflecting their author's appreciation of such great nineteenth-century writers as Balzac, Dickens, Dostoevsky, and Gogol.

On October 28, 2003, Yves Beauchemin was appointed Officier de l'Ordre national du Québec. There were 29 individuals chosen that year, including 5 Grand Officers, 7 Officers, and 17 Knights.

In 2006, he published his novel Les Empouchers.