Nelly Arcan

Nelly Arcan was a Canadian novelist. Arcan was born Isabelle Fortier at Lac-Mégantic in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.rnrnArcan’s first novel Putain (2001; English: Whore (2004)), caused a sensation and enjoyed immediate critical and media success. It was a finalist for both the Prix Médicis and the Prix Fémina, two of France’s most prestigious literary awards. It contains similarities between the prostitute Cynthia in the novel and Arcan’s own experience as a professional escort sex worker.rnrnPutain was followed with three more novels that established her as a literary star in Quebec and France. Her second novel Folle (2004), like her first, is semi-autobiographical and scandalous, and was also nominated for the Prix Femina. A third novel A ciel ouvert appeared in 2007. L’enfant dans le miroir (2007) is a coffee-table illustrated book on beauty. Arcan had recently completed her fourth novel Paradis clef en main (2009; English: Exit (2011)) when she committed suicide. She also wrote several short stories, opinion pieces and columns for various Quebec newspapers and literary magazines.rnrnArcan was thin, busty and beautiful, as Linda Leith said, “Nelly Arcan’s physical presence was too eye-catching to ignore. She would have turned heads on a movie set. The literary set had never seen the like. Picture Marilyn Monroe at the age of 28 getting short-listed for the Booker Prize and the Dublin IMPAC prize for her first novel. And then writing a second novel that gets nominated for the Dublin IMPAC prize again.”rnrnSource: Wikipedia