Madeleine Gagnon was born in 1938 to Jean-Baptiste and Jeanne Beaulieu Gagnon at Amqui, Quebec. One of ten children, she grew up in the countryside of the Gaspé region of Quebec. She received her B.A. in literature from the Université Saint-Joseph du Nouveau-Brunswick, her M.A. in philosophy from the Université de Montréal, and her doctorate in literature from the Université de Nice in France. Married early in her life, Gagnon divorced after her first book, which she signed with her married name, Madeleine Gagnon-Mahoney. She currently lives in Montreal with her two children, Charles and Christophe, and teaches literature at the Université de Québec à Montréal.

Although Gagnon is recognized chiefly for her poetry, she has successfully explored a number of different genres, beginning with the publication of her first work, Les Morts-vivants (1969), a collection of...