Roch Carrier was born on May 13, 1937, in Sainte-Justine, Quebec. He has a PhD in literature from the Sorbonne in France, and he also studied at the Université Saint-Louis in New Brunswick and the Université de Montréal.
From 1964 to 1994, Mr. Carrier was an instructor, professor and administrator at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean. He served as Director of the Canada Council for the Arts between 1994 and 1997. He was the last National Librarian of Canada from 1999 to 2004, when the National Library merged with the National Archives and was renamed Library and Archives Canada.
In addition to his outstanding professional and academic achievements, Mr. Carrier is recognized for his talents as a novelist, playwright, and author of children’s stories and books. In 1970, his stage adaptation of his novel La Guerre, Yes Sir opened at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde in Montréal; the play toured France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia in 1971. It was also performed at the Stratford Festival. His script for Le Martien de Noël became the first feature film for children made in Canada. His best-known work is “The Hockey Sweater.” This short story so effectively captured the national identity that an excerpt ended up on the back of the Canadian five-dollar bill. An Officer of the Order of Canada since 1991, and recipient of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour in 1992, Mr. Carrier has over 40 novels, poems, stories and other publications to his credit, making him one of Canada’s most illustrious literary figures.
