Hélène Desputeaux (; born July 10, 1959) is a Canadian educator, writer and illustrator from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

. With writer Christine L'Heureux, she created and illustrated the character

Caillou ''Caillou'' () is a Canadian educational children's television series which aired on Teletoon (both English and French versions), with its first episode airing on the former channel on September 15, 1997; it later moved to Treehouse TV, with i ...

who appeared in a series of children's books and a television series.

Early life and education

Desputeaux was born in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

and received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in visual arts from

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Lux ...

and a

BEd A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many beds ...

from the

Université du Québec à Montréal The Université du Québec à Montréal (English: University of Quebec in Montreal), also known as UQAM, is a French-language public university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the Université du Qué ...

Career

Desputeaux has produced more than 100 children's books. In 1995, she received the Médaille Raymond-Blais for her body of work. Desputeaux and the publisher Éditions Chouette went to court to resolve a dispute over the ownership of the Caillou character. A Quebec arbitrator found that the character was jointly owned. This decision was reversed by the

Quebec Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of Quebec (sometimes referred to as Quebec Court of Appeal or QCA) (in French: ''la Cour d'appel du Québec'') is the highest judicial court in Quebec, Canada. It hears cases in Quebec City and Montreal. History The Court wa ...

, which found that the arbitrator could not rule on the question of copyright, but the appeal court's ruling was overturned by the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

Selected works

* ''The Emperor's New Clothes'', text by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consist ...

(1984) * ''Purple, Green, and Yellow'' (1992), text by

Robert Munsch Robert Norman Munsch (born June 11, 1945) is an American-Canadian children's author. Personal life and career Robert Munsch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 11, 1945. He grew up in a family of 9 children. He graduated from Fordha ...

* ''Caillou, la petite soeur'' and ''Caillou, le petit pot'', text by Joceline Sanschagrin, received the Mr. Christie's Book Award in 1993 * ''Where is Gah-Ning?'' (1994), text by Robert Munsch

Personal life

Desputeaux married children's author Michel Aubin; the couple have two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desputeaux, Helene 1959 births Artists from Quebec City Canadian children's book illustrators Living people Writers from Quebec City Université Laval alumni French Quebecers