Jovette Marchessault (French: [ʒɔvɛt maʁʃeso]) (February 9, 1938 – December 31, 2012)[1] was a Canadian writer and artist from Quebec, who worked in a variety of literary and artistic domains including novels, poetry, drama, painting and sculpture.

An important pioneer of lesbian and feminist literature and art in Canada,[2] many of her most noted works were inspired by other real-life women in literature and art, including Violette Leduc, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Emily Carr, Anaïs Nin and Helena Blavatsky.

By 1970, she was regularly exhibiting artwork in Montreal, Toronto, New York City, Paris and Brussels.

She published her first novel, Le Crachat solaire, in 1975; this would be the first volume in her Comme une enfant de la terre trilogy, which also included the novels La Mère des herbes (1981) and Des Cailloux blancs pour les forêts obscures (1987).

She co-founded the publishing house Squawtach Press, and was a lecturer in the theater department at the Université du Québec à Montréal.