Emmanuelle Houdart, suggesting all things Swiss through art

Swiss author and illustrator Emmanuelle Houdart occupies a prominent position in the field of children’s literature, having won numerous awards in Italy and France. She opened her Paris studio to SWI swissinfo.ch and showed how memories of Switzerland permeate her books.

Houdart, born in canton Valais in 1967, has worked as an illustrator for 25 years with publishing houses specialising in children’s literature. She has written more than 30 publications, which she likes to describe as “books for everyone”. But she also experiments with making scarves and foulards, where she can express her art in different forms.

Despite being an artist, she also regularly holds workshops, both for adults and children, and her images have travelled the world from one exhibition to another. From Switzerland to Italy, from Hong Kong to her beloved France.

In her books Houdart loves to simultaneously stage the monstrous and the marvellous, always keeping an eye on her human experience, from which she draws inspiration for the themes she deals with: love, friendship, relationships, but also anger and fears – topics we can all relate to.

Her ability to draw on common human emotions is always combined with what critics have described as an unmistakable, original and unique style. She balances sharp, essential signs with a profusion of details, meticulously drawn, and strong colours.

She often portrays shapes as the main subject, in every possible variation, and makes them emerge from the pages. A dream-like atmosphere permeates her drawings, which she enriches with elements and symbols taken from the common imagination, from collective memory and from modern life.

Books

Emmanuelle Houdart has published these books with the Italian publishing house #logosedizioni. These have also been translated into Russian, Chinese, Japanese, French, English and other languages:

L’argent (Money) (2013)

Saltimbanques (Acrobats) (2011) Mention Prix Bologna Ragazzi, Bologna Children’s Book Fair

La garde-robe (The wardrobe) (2010)

Les Heureux Parents (Happy parents) (2009)

Une amie pour la vie (A friend for life) (2012)

Tout va bien Merlin (All is well Merlin) (2009)

Abris (Shelters) (2014)

Emilie Pastèque (2007)

L’Apprentissage amoureux (Learning to love) (2005)

Ma mère (My mother) (2015) Grand prix of illustration (Department Council of Allier)

Monstres malades (Ill monsters) (2004) Bologna Ragazzi Prix, Bologna Children’s Book Fair, fiction category

Ma planète (My planet) (2016)

La Parade de Noël (The Christmas Parade) (2017)

Edited by Mark Livingston