Will the International Children’s Book Fair charm Bologna?

The actors of the world of children’s literature will meet in Bologna on Monday for the International Fair of Children’s Books. The most important event of its kind will crown the best publishers from all over the world. Monsieur Ed, an independent Quebec publishing house, is one of the finalists. The Press met its owner, Valérie Picard, before she flew to Italy.

Veronique Larocque
The Press

On its website, the publishing house invites visitors to have tea with Ed. The Press took this invitation at face value. It is therefore around a steaming cup that we meet the editor Valérie Picard and the illustrator Audrey Malo.

Three days before learning that Mr. Ed was in the running for the prize for the best publisher of children’s books in North America, Valérie Picard said to a friend: “I don’t mind when I win a prize. “Seeing his reaction to the announcement of his selection in Bologna, she admits to being wrong.

“When I got the news, I cried. I found that so rewarding. All the work, all the effort, all the sacrifices I’ve made over the years. I say to myself: “Oh! Mr. Ed is now at a level where he can have international recognition.” And it’s even more rewarding because I didn’t submit the house’s application. »

It must be said that since she co-founded Monsieur Ed with Alice Liénard in 2015, Valérie Picard has not been idle. Especially since since 2019, she has been alone in charge.

” You work a lot. All the time”, slips the illustrator Audrey Malo, who will publish her second title this year with Monsieur Ed.

The editor agrees with him.

And then, she can count on an assistant, collaborators and friends who give her a hand here and there, she insists.

In recent years, Quebec publishing houses La Pastèque, D’eux, Comme des Géants and Les 400 coups have also been honored in Bologna.

What could this award represent for Mr. Ed? A gateway to foreign markets, believes Valérie Picard. “Already, following the announcement of the appointment, there are many houses or international agents who have contacted me,” she confides, between two sips of tea.

Mr. Ed’s books

To date, Monsieur Ed has published nearly twenty children’s books, including the series Wicked Wild WestMarthe Pelletier and Richard Écrapou, Coco where are you? by Aurélien Galvan, or even I will wait for you by the seaby Taltal Levi, recently published.

In a few weeks, Boumbidouman interactive album signed by Valérie Picard featuring a funny alien, will land in bookstores.

How does the editor select the stories that will be published? “It’s a lot to feel,” she admits. It is difficult to explain. […] I like to make books which, for me, are going to have a double meaning. […] I like when, even if at the first level it’s very simple and wacky, you can go find a deep meaning. I like that even while having fun we can discover ourselves, question ourselves and wonder about the world. I think my choice of book goes in that direction. »

Featuring a duo of friends who imagine crazy uses for banal everyday objects, tadpole headwritten by Catherine Chiasson and illustrated by Audrey Malo, is part of this line of thought.

Since the author was unable to attend the interview, The Press reached her on the phone. “I like funny albums, a little without morals, in which you can have fun, laugh and make the characters say anything,” says Catherine Chiasson. However, if you dig a little deeper, you can see that the book published last fall invites young people to develop their creativity and leads them to think about friendship.

When Catherine Chiasson is asked what she admires in her editor – and friend – she talks about her avant-garde side and her sense of aesthetics. She also says of herself that she is extremely hard-working, extremely meticulous. “She will seek out all the creativity of the people she works with. She has this gift of bringing out everything we have inside us, ”adds the one who is also co-owner of the bookstore Le Renard perché.

Illustrator Audrey Malo agrees. Valérie Picard’s comments allowed her to take her characters further. “I like to open myself up to all the avenues that my illustrations could take,” she says.

In closing, we want to know: who is Mr. Ed? “That’s the killer question, because I don’t have a super fun answer,” apologizes Valérie Picard, promising to invent one one day. “By dint of brainstorm, we combined two ideas. The publishing house could have been called Monsieur Antoine or Éditeur Éditeur. The merger of the two gave Mr. Ed.