GL Charlebois

GL Charlebois (Gaëtan L. Charlebois) is a writer/critic born in Quebec City, Quebec, June 9, 1957. As a child, he toured Europe with his military father for three years (1967-70), being exposed to opera, theatre and fine art. On the family's return he became an apprentice critic at the Quebec Chronicle Telegraph (1972-74) where he reviewed theatre, music and film. After training as an actor at John Abbott College, Charlebois worked briefly at Centaur Theatre as a publicist. During this time he managed his own semi-professional theatre company, The Group of Four, which among other works premiered David Fennario's Without a Parachute.

He won the Clifford E. Lee National Award for Playwrights in 1978 for his play Aléola which was subsequently produced at Theatre 3, Open Circle Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, in a French adaptation (Jean Daigle) at the Théâtre du Rideau Vert and in an Acadian adaptation (Laval Goupil) at Théâtre populaire d’Acadie in Caraquet. It was also performed on Radio-Canada (radio and television), and in the United States and Great Britain.

Other plays produced include Returning (Piggery Theatre), Michael (KLA Productions, Théâtre de Quat'Sous), Wonderland! (John Abbott College) and Children, Parents ... and Other Strangers (Concordia University).

After having worked as a critic for the Montreal Review, he became the theatre critic for the Montreal Mirror (1990-1997) and then at Hour, also in Montreal (1997-2002) He reviewed French and English theatre. He also worked for the Gay magazine, Attitude, in 1995, as a film and theatre critic and commentator. He had two columns at the daily, the Montreal Gazette (2002-2009) about Quebec pop culture and television. He founded and operated The Charlebois Post, a popular national website on Canadian theatre, 2007-2012.

Charlebois is a member of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association and is the founder of The Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia on the WWW, which Charlebois endowed to Athabaska University.

Five of his short stories have been published in literary magazines in Canada and the US.

Among his published works is the satire A Dog's Blog: Year One, the Mooks. His play, Aléola, was published in 1980 by Talonbooks. Upcoming works include The Blessed (spring 2024) and the first volume of The Freehilt Chronicles (autumn 2024).

He lives in Montreal with his partner.