Born in Amqui, Quebec, in 1938, Madeleine Gagnon has published over forty books of poetry and prose in Quebec and France. Although Gagnon's work is firmly rooted in North American mythology, history, and culture, she has published significant works dealing with the situation of women in war-torn countries and the impact of prolonged suffering on people's minds and spirits. In "Stone Dream" Gagnon takes us on the ultimate trip a poet can offer: the vast journey through our collective unconscious to produce the living poem, the dream of stone that so tantalised and provoked Baudelaire.

Translated by: Andrea Moorhead