Alice Lemieux-Lévesque

Lemieux-Lévesque was born in Quebec City, Quebec on September 23, 1905.[1] Her parents were J. Albert Lemieux, a merchant, and Alice Morrisette.[1] She grew up in Saint-Michel de Bellechase, attending primary school there, and completed high school at Convent des Ursulines de Québec.[1] She then attended nursing school at Prévost de Montréal.[2]

In 1926, she published Heures effeuillées, a poetry collection.[1] In 1919, she published a second poetry collection, Poèmes.[1] The collection won a David Prize.[1] In 1930, Lemieux-Lévesque spent a year studying at the Sorbonne in Paris.[1]

After returning to Canada, in 1935, Lemieux-Lévesque married Léo-Albert Lévesque, a French-American journalist and poet, who was better known under the pseudonym Rosaire Dion-Lévesque.[1] After the wedding, Lemieux-Lévesque moved to Nashua, New Hampshire.[1] In the United States, she advocated for the promotion of French culture and heritage among French Americans.[1][2] She edited Nashua's French-language journal, L'impartial, from 1946 to 1951[2] and served as the French-American Women's Federation's first president.[1] In 1952, she founded the organization's Bulletin publication, which would go on to be known as one of the "best French-language publications in the United States."[2] In 1960, a French representative in Boston awarded her the Ordre des Palmes Académiques to recognize her for her work in improving French-American relations.[1]

Lemieux-Lévesque published six other poetry collections: Silences in 1962, L'arbre du jour in 1964, Jardin d'octobre in 1972, Le repas du soir in 1974, Vers la joie in 1976, and Fleurs de givre in 1979.[1] In 1963, Lemieux-Lévesque divorced her husband and returned to Canada.[2] There, she published work in magazines and newspapers and was affiliated with the Society of French-Canadian Poets and the Society of Canadian Writers.[1]