L'Avalée des avalés [fr] (Swallowed), Ducharme's first novel, was short-listed for the 1966 Prix Goncourt, even though the author was only 24 years old and unknown.

That same year, the book won the 1966 Governor General's Award for Poetry or Drama (Poésie et théâtre).

[1] L'Avalée des avalés later won the 2005 French version of Canada Reads, where it was defended by actress Sophie Cadieux.

In the 1992 movie Léolo, the main character spends much of his time reading and thinking about L'Avalée des avalés.

In summer 2021, the city's Sud-Ouest borough renamed its library from the Bibliotheque Georges-Vanier to the Bibliothèque Réjean-Ducharme in his honour.