A native of Saskatchewan, Sheila Fischman was educated in Toronto, where she worked in publishing before moving to Quebec. A co-founder of the periodical Ellipse: Writers in Translation/Oeuvres en traduction and a founding member of the Literary Translators’ Association of Canada, she has also been a columnist for the Globe & Mail and the Montreal Gazette, and a broadcaster with CBC Radio.
Sheila Fischman now devotes herself full time to literary translation, specializing in novels and short stories. Her list of translations from the French includes some 80 translations from French to English, principally of novels by such contemporary Quebec writers as: Yves Beauchemin, Lise Bissonnette, Marie-Claire Blais, Roch Carrier, François Gravel, Anne Hébert, Hélène Le Beau, André Major, Jacques Poulin, Michel Tremblay, Élise Turcotte.
She has received many prizes: Twice (1974 and 1984) winner of Canada Council Translation Prize; finalist for Governor General's Translation Prize, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996. Twice winner of Félix-Antoine Savard Translation Prize (awarded by Translation Center, Columbia University), 1989 and 1990. Winner of IBBY Award for translation 1998. Winner of Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation, 1998.