An Interview with Marie-Aude Murail: Acknowledging the Invisible Ties That Connect Us

Abstract

An Interview with Marie-Aude Murail: Acknowledging the Invisible Ties That Connect Us Emmanuelle Kabala (bio) Translated by Jennifer Dewar For over thirty years, Marie-Aude Murail has been delighting young French readers with her engaging stories. She is one of the country’s most popular novelists. There is always something magical in her writing, so you can be sure that any young reader who comes across her books for the first time will be eagerly anticipating the next one (and fortunately there are lots to choose from). They are always an absorbing and addictive read—you can’t help but fall in love with Marie-Aude Murail’s characters! She has a remarkable ability to show the world through children’s eyes: their family (not necessarily blood relations), their friends, and their neighbors. It’s an acknowledgment of the invisible ties that connect us to one another. Finally! Any reader who has discovered you and then ardently followed you, whether as a child, a child who has grown up, or an adult (because your pen has a talent for delighting each and every one of them), will be excited by the news of this award! The prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Prize was awarded to you on March, 21, 2022, more than half a century since the last French recipient. The jury chose you because you are an author “committed to the cause of children and reading, a serious observer of the world, and with humor and benevolent optimism, opening many windows on the major issues of contemporary society.” How did you feel when you learned the news? On the afternoon of March 21, I was walking down a country lane with my husband Pierre, when Véronique Haitse, my editor at the L’Ecole des Loisirs publishing house, called me from Bologna. I had been waiting for news but had kept my expectations low for fear of being disappointed. I knew I had been nominated in previous years, and that I was on the short list this year, but I am superstitious and am always afraid of disappointing those around me. So I didn’t talk about it. When I learned I had been chosen, it was as if a weight had been lifted. I sat down on the grass and my thoughts turned to René Guillot, the only French writer ever to have received the prize in 1956. I was two years old then… This children’s writer was born in Courcoury, a small village in the Charente where my husband’s grandmother lived and where my three children spent their summers. [End Page 13] It is probably the only place in France where there’s a street in honor of René Guillot! Your books have been widely translated for a long time and you have received many awards. What more does this international award mean to you? I hope that this international recognition will encourage more translations of my books in new countries which I have yet to discover. I wanted to be an explorer as a child! Writing for young people is often less respected in the literary world. Is this magnificent prize an “up yours” to the industry? It may also mean a reexamination of the term “messy prose,” describing your work from your university days! My modern literature thesis during my time at the Sorbonne in 1979 was entitled “Pauvre Robinson! Why and How Classic Novels Are Adapted for Young Audiences.” The examiners told me I had written a novel, not a thesis. Children’s literature was not recognized at the Sorbonne, which made me realize I was in the wrong place. But the examiners weren’t wrong, so I gave up my academic career to write novels! When we look back on your journey, your destiny as a novelist for young people seems to have been a natural progression since you come from such an artistic family who are never short on imaginative ideas. Can you tell us more about your beginnings, and how you came to focus on youth literature, to which you have remained faithful? Who found who first? I was born into a family of artists—my father was...