Meet the illustrator Marie-Louise Gay

 

This is from a poster designed by Marie-Louise Gay

It would be perfect for your display on our CBCA 2023 slogan:

Read, Grow, Inspire

" ... at a certain point, I fell in love with children’s books and the idea of weaving words and images, poetry and colour to create stories where my characters would live great adventures and feel much emotion. A rich visual world where everything was possible." Marie-Louise Gay

My friend and I are working on a list of our favourite illustrators from around the world. Our only criteria is they must be alive and we will try to find a balance of female and male creators. We started this in response to the new book by Leonard S Marcus which explores the work of 101 illustrators. Nearly all of them are dead and nearly all are male. I imagine you get the gist of our discussion! Marie-Louise Gay from Canada is not in this book. In fact I think there might only be one Canadian and I know there are only two Australians (Shaun Tan and Robert Ingpen).

By chance it is Marie-Louise Gay's birthday this week. She was born on 17th June, 1952. You can see her reading some of her books here. I love her delicate illustrations which are filled with movement and emotion.

I found a wonderful interview with Marie-Louise Gay on Seven Impossible things before Breakfast. You will see her art and read about her process and the illustrators who inspire her.

Here is a video of Marie-Louise reading this book.

Here is my blog post.

I am a huge fan of this sweet series

Read about another Stella title - Stella Queen of the Snow

Watch the trailer

I do get a thrill when I see an illustrator honoured with a postage stamp:

Book list:

Stella, Star of the Sea (1999)

Stella, Queen of the Snow (2001)

Stella, Fairy of the Forest (2002)

Stella, Princess of the Sky (2004)

When Stella Was Very, Very, Small (2009)

Read Me A Story, Stella (2013)

Good Morning, Sam (2003)

Good Night, Sam (2003)

What Are You Doing, Sam? (2006)

Travels With My Family (Groundwood, 2006)

On the Road Again! (Groundwood, 2008)

Summer in the City (Groundwood, 2012)

The Traveling Circus (Groundwood, 2015)

Travels in Cuba (Groundwood, 2021)

Lizzy's Lion (1984)

The Garden: Little Big Books (1985)

Moonbeam On A Cat's Ear (1986)

Rainy Day Magic (1987)

Angel and the Polar Bear (1988)

Fat Charlie's Circus (1989)

Willy Nilly (1990)

Mademoiselle Moon (1992)

Rabbit Blue (1993)

Midnight Mimi (1994)

The Three Little Pigs (Canadian Fairy Tales Series) (1994)

Rumplestiltskin (1997)

Sur Mon Ile (1999)

Caramba (2006)

Roslyn Rutabaga and the Biggest Hole on Earth! (2010)

Caramba and Henry (2011)

Any Questions (2014)

Short Stories for Little Monsters (2017)

The Three Brothers (2020)

Illustrator - different authors:

The Last Piece (1993)

When Vegetables Go Bad! (1993)

The Fabulous Song (1996)

Dreams Are More Real Than Bathtubs (1999)

Yuck, a Love Story (2000)

Didi and Daddy on the Promenade (2001)

Houndsley and Catina (2006)