Maria Chapdelaine (French)

About Louis Hemon

Louis Hemon's famous novel, Maria Chapdelaine, has been translated into more than twenty languages and is as closely associated with Canada as Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. Hemon was born in France in 1880 and did not witness the international success of his book -- he was killed by a train in 1913, a few months before the book's first publication. Already a published journalist, he wrote the text of Maria Chapdelaine while working as a laborer on a farm in Quebec. It was originally published as a serial in a Parisian paper and was later brought to Canada and published as a single book. Posthumously, several other works by Hemon were published, but none were as successful as this classic.

About Gilles Tibo

Gilles Tibo has written or illustrated over seventy children’s books, including the Simon series by Tundra Books, the Pikolo series by Annick Press, the Clementine series by Michel Quintin publishers, as well as texts for the Noémie series published in French by Éditions Québec/Amérique. He has created over a hundred posters and screen prints for theatre and for different cultural events. His illustrations can also be seen on the covers of records, novels, and magazines. He was a Canada Council Fellow and recipient of many awards, including the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Illustration — French for Simon et la ville de carton (1992). The Simon series has been published in Japanese, Norwegian, and bilingual Chinese/English editions. Gilles Tibo lives in Montreal.