Marie-Aude MURAIL & Constance ROBERT-MURAIL

Limited Means: The Unlocking of a Child's Creativity

In this keynote, Marie-Aude Murail will first explore her own childhood to ask: how did a little girl growing up between the four walls of a Parisian flat manage to create a world for herself with her siblings, working with a very tight budget and an unbridled imagination? This little girl later became a novelist, along with her brother Lorris and her sister Elvire, and spent decades wondering how to unlock her readers' sense of their own creativity. To that effect, she created two equally imaginative little girls, Romarine and Charity Tiddler. Romarine is a charismatic tomboy who turns every aspect of her mundane 21st century life into a thrilling spy novel (L'Espionne series, Bayard, 2001-2024). In 1880s England, Miss Charity (L'école des loisirs, 2008) defies parental and societal expectations to become an artist. In spite of the very limited means at their disposal, both heroines prove to be resourceful when it comes to building themselves a life that is "very, very interesting" and "full of twists and turns." Marie-Aude Murail will thus reflect on the virtues of boredom and scarcity to mend our relationship with make believe.

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Marie-Aude Murail

Born in Le Havre in 1954, Marie-Aude Murailhas published over a hundred books, some of which have been adapted for stage or screen. She is translated in 25 languages. She was named Officier de la Légion d’Honneur for her contribution to France's cultural influence, as well as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. She has been accompanying millions of readers of all ages for over 30 years, travelling her country and the world to meet young people and their educators.

Her books includeOh, Boy!, My Brother Simple, Miss Charity, as well as the series devoted to Émilien, Nils Hazard and Sauveur & Fils for L’école des loisirs;Vive la République! and Golem for Pocket Jeunesse. In September 2018, L'Iconoclaste published her family autobiography En nous beaucoup d'hommes respirent. In 2022, she completed a trilogy set during the pandemic in Le Havre, Angie!, begun in March 2020 with her brother Lorris Murail.

On the 21^stof March 2022, the International Board on Books for Young people (IBBY) awarded her the Hans-Christian Andersen Prize in Malaysia. She is married with three children and six grandchildren, and now lives in a peaceful village of the Loiret region.

Constance Robert-Murail

Born in 1994, Constance Robert-Murail studied English at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon and passed theagrégation, the national exam to be an English teacher. She interned at the Institut Français in London as a cultural events coordinator, then studied digital communication and project management at Sorbonne-Université.

She interrupted her doctoral thesis to become a writer, but keeps exploring her research interests, which include the representation of adolescence in films and verse novels, African-American studies and sociolinguistics.

She interprets from English to French for various cultural events and now accompanies her mother abroad to be her English voice. They co-wrote a first novel together, the 7^thinstallment of Marie-Aude’s series Sauveur & Fils, published in April 2023.

Bibliography

Selected works

• Oh, boy! (2000)
• Simple (2004)
• Maïté Coiffure (2004)
• La Fille du docteur Baudoin (2006)
• Vive la République! (2005)
• Papa et maman sont dans un bateau (2009)
• Le Tueur à la cravate (2010)
• 3 000 façons de dire je t’aime (2013)
• Sauveur & Fils series, season 1 to 7, (2016 - 2023)

«Emilien» series (slice of life / coming-of-age)

• Baby-sitter blues (1989)
• Le Trésor de mon père (1989)
• Le Clocher d'Abgall (1989)
• Au bonheur des larmes (1990)
• Un séducteur né (1991)
• Sans sucre, merci (1992)
• Nos amours ne vont pas si mal (1993)

«Nils Hazard» series (detective novels / suspense)

• Dinky Rouge Sang (1991)
• L’assassin est au collège (1992)
• La Dame qui tue (1993)
• Tête à rap (1994)
• Scénario catastrophe (1995)
• Qui veut la peau de Maori Cannell? (1997)
• Rendez-vous avec M. X (1998)

«Angie» series (thriller / pandemic lockdowns), with her brother Lorris Murail

• Angie! (2021)
• Souviens-toi de septembre (2021)
• À l’Hôtel du Pourquoi-Pas ? (2022)

Light fantasy and science-fiction

• Ma vie a changé (1997)
• Amour, vampire et loup-garou (1998)
• Tom Lorient (1999)
• MythO (2001)
• Golem (co-written with Elvire and Lorris Murail) (2002)
• L'Expérienceur (co-written with Lorris Murail) (2003)

Historical novels

• Jésus, comme un roman… (1997, reedition 2021)
• D'amour et de sang (1999)
• A biography of Charles Dickens (2006)
• An adaptation for young readers of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (2012)
• Miss Charity (2008), loosely based on Beatrix Potter’s life and works
• Malo de Lange, fils de voleur (2009)
• Malo de Lange, fils de Personne (2011)
• Malo de Lange et le fils du roi (2012)

For younger readers

• Mystère (1987)
• Le Chien des Mers (1988)
• Le hollandais sans peine (1989)
• Les Secrets véritables (1990)
• Mon bébé à 210 francs (1990)
• Un dimanche chez les dinosaures (1991)
• Le Changelin (1994)
• Qui a peur de madame Lacriz? (1996)
• Souï Manga (écrit avec Elvire Murail) (1999)
• Peau-de-rousse (1999)
• Patte-blanche (2005)
• 22! (2008)
• La Bande à Tristan (2010)
• Zapland (2016)
• Nonpareil (2007)
• L’Espionne: aseries of 21 books published between 2001 and 2019

Essays and non-fiction

• Continue la lecture, on n'aime pas la récré (1993)
• Nous on n'aime pas lire (1996) (réédition 2002)
• Je ne sais pas quoi lire (1998)
• Auteur jeunesse - Comment le suis-je devenue, pourquoi le suis-je restée (2003)
• Comment naît un roman (ou pas) in Le Tueur à la cravate (2010)

Marie-Aude Murail in translation

Many of Marie Aude Murail’s books have been made available in translations. See table below.