Born in Saint-Paul-de-la-Croix, in the area of Bas-Saint-Laurent, Victor-Lévy Beaulieu began primary school at Trois-Pistoles, moving later to Montréal-Nord.
In 1968, he spent a year in Paris, and on his return became a scriptwriter at the Montreal radio station CKLM while resuming his position of chronicler.
Beaulieu served as a teacher of literature at the National Theatre School of Canada from 1972 to 1978, and also wrote for the Radio-Canada broadcasts "Documents", "Petit théâtre", "Roman", "La Feuillaison".
In 2008 he threatened to burn copies of his entire body of work as a protest against the growth of bilingualism in Quebec and various statements by PQ leader Pauline Marois in support of English classes for francophone schoolchildren.
Ms. Barbot told La Presse she found the text insulting and discriminatory, and a personal attack on Ms. Jean's character.