His second novel, Le matou (1981), became the all-time best-selling novel in French Quebec literature and has been translated into seventeen languages.
Beauchemin won the Prix Jean Giono for his third novel, Juliette Pormerleau (1989).
In his fiction Beauchemin is a detached but caring observer of the contemporary world around him.
The panoramic canvases of his novels capture the teeming life of the streets, reflecting their author's appreciation of such great nineteenth-century writers as Balzac, Dickens, Dostoevsky and Gogol.
He resides in Longueuil, Quebec.