“The reader captures the poetic forms used in this collection through their tonality: one being more elegiac and reminiscent of the mourning and privation that continue to be experienced in the present; and the other, stimulated by the desire for a better tomorrow, prompting the recomposition, as in Anne Hébert, of her woman’s face... The poet reimagines differently the departed lover — Eurydice but also Beatrice or Laura, those objects of idealized desire on which the classical poetry was based — and proposes the portrait of an anonymous woman reclaiming her own desire.”
— Nathalie Watteyne

“One finds in this book a kind of pagan faith, the perennial possibility of renewing one’s vows to life... one’s ability to wonder, desire, and believe in tomorrow. I read Up Close and suddenly, despite all the pain that some of these sentences contain, I allow myself to make my own the word hope.”
— Dominic Tardif

Louise Dupré, born in Quebec, has published more than twenty books, which have received many awards, including the Governor General’s Award for poetry. Louise Dupré’s poetry and several of her novels have been translated into English or other languages. Louise Dupré is a member of the Academy of Letters of Quebec and of The Royal Society of Canada. In December 2014, she was appointed to the Order of Canada for her contributions to Quebec literature as a poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, and professor.