Damase Potvin

Damase Potvin
Désignation de 2 avenue (Baie-Comeau et Montréal) et 3 rues (Québec (ville), Lévis et Saguenay (ville)) en son nom
Born(1882-10-16)October 16, 1882
DiedJune 9, 1964(1964-06-09) (aged 81)
OccupationsJournalist and writer
Writing career
LanguageFrench
Years active36

Damase Potvin (born October 16, 1882 – 1964) was a writer and journalist born in Bagotville, Saguenay, Quebec. He is the son of Charles Potvin and Julie Hudon.

Biography

He obtained his baccalauréat ès arts at the Séminaire de Chicoutimi where he contributed to the newspaper of the Institution L'Oiseau-Mouche, then enrolled, in 1894, in a business course. In 1903, he entered the White Fathers of Africa and, unable to adapt to the climate of Algiers, he returned to the country in 1905. Subsequently, he opted for journalism and in 1905 founded the first newspaper in the Saguenay region, Le Travailleur. He directed Le Progrès du Saguenay (1906) for a year. He then moved to Quebec where he was assistant editor at La Semaine Commerciale and La Vérité, then editor-in-chief at Quotidien in Lévis. He then founded Le Petit Québécois, in which he wrote controversial columns under the pseudonym of Jean Yves. In 1910, he moved to Montreal where he worked for Devoir (1910), while contributing to various newspapers and magazines: Chasse et Pêche, Culture, Saturday, and French Canada. In July 1918, he founded the review Le Terroir, organ of the Society of Arts, Sciences and Letters, which was published until 1940.

In December 1917 he co-founded, with Georges Morisset and Alonzo Cinq-Mars, the Society of Arts, Sciences and Letters of Quebec. In 1938, he organized the Quebec Journalists Club. He was a member of the Press Gallery in the Parliament of Quebec, of the Montreal Historical Society and of Quebec, of the Canadian Institute of Quebec, of the Literary School of Montreal, and the Society of French-Canadian Writers.

In 1938, he received the Prix David for his novel Peter McLeod and in 1940, the Prize of the Ministry of Mines for his novel Sous le signe du quartz. His work is mainly focused on the terroir and the return to the land.

The Damase-Potvin Literary Prize is awarded in his memory.

From 1985 to 1995, the Damase-Potvin Prize was awarded to scientists on the occasion of the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean Regional Scientific Merit.

Works published

Magazines and newspapers

Bibliography

Honors

References

  1. ↑ "Noces d'argent journalistiques" (Journalistic Silver Wedding), Le Terroir, XIII, 3, August 1931, p. 7.
  2. ↑ Aurélien Boivin, Raymond Desgagné, Damase Potvin, Saguenean writer (1879–1964), Édition du Royaume, Alma, 1983, 28 p.
  3. ↑ "The genesis of a society and the history of 'a decade', Le Terroir, VIII, 10, Feb. 1928, p. 166.