Manuscript Collection MS COLL 00189 - Mavis Gallant Papers

Mavis Gallant was born in Montreal in August 1922. In 1944, she became a reporter for the Montreal Standard where she remained for six years. During that time, at age 20, she married John Gallant, but they divorced after five years. In 1950, she left her job at the newspaper to pursue fiction writing. Gallant achieved her ambition quickly: since 1951, she has published more than 100 stories, most of which first appeared in The New Yorker, where she continues to publish. She chose Paris as her home base, where she continues to live, but has always remained a Canadian citizen. In 1981, Gallant recieved the Governor General's award for literature for her collection of stories, Home Truths. The same year, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, and in 1993 was raised to the Companion, the Order's highest level. She is a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.