An Acadian poet born in 1970, Jean-Philippe Raîche evokes tragic collective destinies, voluntary exile, and wandering in his work. Establishing uprootedness as a symbol of the human condition, he makes the body of the beloved the only place of return.
As a young student at the University of Moncton in the late 1980s, he relaunched Perce-Neige, which would become the leading Acadian publisher. He then studied at the University of Montreal, McGill University, and Paris VII University. In 1997, he joined the Canadian Embassy in Paris. He was initially responsible for universities and then headed the book and film department. In 2012, he returned to Acadia and settled in Moncton, where he spent three years directing the poetry collection for Perce-Neige Publishing.
In 2001, his first collection of poetry, Une Lettre au bout du monde, was published by Perce-Neige. Noticed by critics, the work was nominated for the Antonine-Maillet Prize, the Emile-Nelligan Prize, and the Governor General’s Award. In 2007, Ne réveillez pas l’amour avant qu’elle ne le veuille (Don’t Wake Love Before She Wants to Be Woken), which transposes the Song of Songs to the modern era, was published by the same publisher and received the Aliénor Prize and the Louise-Labé Prize in France. His texts have appeared in several magazines and anthologies in Canada and France.
Photo credit : Louis-Philippe Chiasson
