Claude Ponti

Claude Ponticelli, known as Claude Ponti, was born on November 22, 1948, in Lunéville (Lorraine, France). He is a French children’s author and illustrator. His books feature detailed illustrations and imaginative narratives. Several recurring characters, such as Blaise the masked chick, have become recognizable within French children’s literature.

Early life Claude Ponti was born as the middle of three boys, between his older brother Alain, and younger brother Michel. His father was a “chrono-analyst” (or Time-motion study analyst), and his mother was a teacher. He later recalled his time in kindergarten, At the age of eight, his family moved to the Vosges countryside, where he lived in a rural environment and spent time around farm animals. He is left-handed, and mildly dyslexic.

After obtaining his diploma in 1967, Claude Ponti then attended a Fine Arts school in Aix-en-Provence. He later studied literature and archaeology in Strasbourg, before moving to Paris.

From 1968 to 1984, he worked for the French newspaper L’Express, initially as a courier and later as a cartoonist. During this period, he exhibited paintings at a gallery in Paris between 1972 and 1978. He also produced illustrations for children’s literature publishers. In the early 1980's, he was the artistic director of the Imagerie of Épinal.

Career The birth of his daughter, Adèle, in 1985, marked the beginning of his career as a children’s author. His earliest works were created for his daughter. In 1986, after Gallimard editor Geneviève Brisac reviewed his work, L’Album d’Adèle was published. Brisac later became a publisher at L’École des loisirs, where Ponti subsequently published most of his books. Adèle Ponticelli later became a podcast producer for Le Monde and has collaborated with her father on projects, including a fiction podcast produced for ARTE Radio.

Many illustrators, including Claude Ponti in 2000 and 2001, created original artwork for Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman's Little Lit children's book anthology. Mouly and Spiegelman's Toon Books have published some of Ponti's work, starting in 2012. That same year, Ponti and Spiegelman, along with Lorenzo Mattotti, drew a six-handed lithographe illustration together, at the Salon du livre.

In 2009, with some friends, Ponti created Le Muz (later renamed La Venture - Le Muz), an online virtual museum and voluntary association, which displays children's works from across the world, as well as aids and announces many real-life events revolving around child art, and projects by Claude Ponti and other artists, educators, psychologists and researchers. Le Muz's mission statement is “To valorise the creativity of children and their works, as well as collect and broadcast them” and that “Children's works should be visible, preserved, valued, accessible to everyone, children and adults, anytime and anywhere in the world”. and its site hosts nearly 5000 artworks by children.

While known more for children's books, Claude Ponti has also written for adult audiences. His first adult-readers novel, Les Pieds-Bleus, is about a rural boy named Hercule, in the 1960's, who is harassed, physically and sexually abused, but nonetheless enjoys playing, running wild, and being full of imagination.

In a 2014 article for Libération, Ponti criticised Jean-François Copé, then-president of the center-right UMP political party, for Copé's remarks against Claire Franek's children's book Tous à Poil! (English translation: All Naked!), on nakedness and human bodies. Copé said that reading it made his blood stop flowing, that UMP leaders had to say “enough!”, and wrongfully-claimed the book was part of official recommended teaching aids for primary education teachers. Ponti said “Criticising a children's book without understanding it is dumb”, and added that this insulted the adult family members and librarians who read and understood the books, and who chose to give them to children in their family or library.

The Institut Français' November 2015 South Ken Kids Festival, in London, hosted a drawing panel with both Claude Ponti and Tony Ross, around the topic of Alice in Wonderland during the book's 150th anniversary.

Ponti illustrated the inside of the 2022 album Consolation for singer Pomme, who had been a huge fan of Ponti from her childhood, and whose mushroom hat, worn for the album's cover, references the author's work.

A couple of Claude Ponti's earliest children's books, are credited as written by Mona Ponti (or Monique Ponticelli), and illustrated by Claude.

Works

Writing Claude Ponti creates stories which are articulated like dreams, often with a touch of humour.

He frequently invents new words, inspired by kids (bad pronunciation, or their imaginations). He also plays with the language, by use of subtle and poetic puns. Hence, the content is both for kids and adults, especially in his last few works.

Puns contribute to the writing dynamic, and characters are created through associating ideas. The whole book, story and images, is a base to imagine and create new psychological interpretations. Besides, a lot of books tells the adventure of characters who live initiatory journeys.

Ponti says the following on his own books :

“ My stories are like tales, always in the fantasy, they talk about the ' inside life ' and childhood feelings, so each child can put what he wants into the images : dreams and characters of his own. ”

Illustration In Ponti's albums, text is tied to images. The gorgeous illustrations are full-blown elements, symbolic and independent. The attentive reader can discover details, easter eggs, hidden messages, or facts not mentioned in the text.

As for technique, tools and materials, Ponti switches between a mixture of watercolor, gouache and China ink, occasionally using photocopying, collages or a light table, for scenery and elements frequently reused throughout a book, or for changing the size of an element.

Inspirations Claude Ponti is notably inspired by Lewis Carroll's wacky universe, and introduces references to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass in his own books.

Furthermore, children's imagination inspired him, their ideas, their wishes, to create appreciated books :

“ When my daughter had a dream or a nightmare, the next day, I asked her to tell me about it, I was taking notes then I went to my office, and I worked. ”

Legacy

According to Anne Dupin, co-editor-in-chief of the CRDP's Argos magazine, speaking for the CRDP of Créteil in 2007: Claude Ponti is to my mind a vital author in the whole children’s production, including the abundant creativity and the fanciful graphic nearly brings kids infatuation. His universe, with these multiple artistic and cultural references, themes and a languages proper to the childhood, his originality through forms, colors, typography, or pagination, brings narrative content that suits to the children’s emotional, and their expectations. They can find a new knowledge or word, which let them choose easily their destinies.

Catherine Renaud from Uppsala University, published a thesis on Claude Ponti's work in 2008, titled Les ‘ incroyabilicieux ’ mondes de Ponti – Une étude du double lectorat dans l’œuvre de Claude Ponti (English translation: The 'incrediblicious' worlds of Ponti: A study of dual-readership in Claude Ponti's work). The study focuses on reading and analysing Ponti's books as an adult, from the books aimed squarely at children to Ponti's more mature works, and the recurring themes across both.

Ponti was interviewed in 2019, for a documentary on himself, titled Claude Ponti, un art de l'enfance (English translation: an art of childhood), by Thierry Kubler and Stéphanie Molez.

In 2025, Claude Ponti received the SGDL's Grand Prix pour l'Œuvre, for the entirety of his works.

International Nowadays, Claude Ponti's albums are translated into 13 languages, including English, Spanish, German, Greek and Swedish. Russian publishing houses are starting to pay attention to the author, while Chinese and Korean people are nearly fanatical concerning him. His 1992 book, L'Arbre Sans Fin, was published by Bir for South Korea in 2001, with Korean translation by Jung-im Yoon.

According to Isabelle Darthy, who was the author's publisher in 1990:

“The works of Claude Ponti present specific challenges for translation because of their linguistic density and a frequent use of wordplay. The albums aimed to the international public required multiple readings to identify the underlying semantic layers, because Claude Ponti's puns and expressions are complex, and often subtle. Translating those books required very experienced translators, and even fans of the author.”

Claude Ponti's books have also hit the USA market, via the not-for-profit publisher Archipelago Books (under their foreign children's titles imprint, Elsewhere Editions), starting with My Valley in 2017, translated by Alyson Waters.

Awards 1988: Prix Sorcières Toddlers category, for Adèle s’en mêle 1997: Prix Sorcières Toddlers category, for Sur la branche 2000: IBBY “Honour List”, Illustration category, for Ma vallée 2000: for Sur l'île des Zertes 2006: A Prix Sorcières award for all his works. 2008: Selection for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, Illustration category 2022: Selection for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2023: Selection for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2025: SGDL's Grand Prix pour l'Œuvre, for all his works. 1996 Sur la branche 1996 Dans la voiture 1996 Au fond du jardin 1996 Le Tournemire 1997 Zénobie 1997 Le Nakakoué 1998 Tromboline et Foulbazar : Le Nuage 1998 Tromboline et Foulbazar : Le A 1998 Tromboline et Foulbazar : Le Cauchemar 1999 Monsieur Monsieur et Mademoiselle Moiselle : Bizarre... Bizarre 1999 Monsieur Monsieur et Mademoiselle Moiselle : Les Chaussures neuves 1999 Monsieur Monsieur et Mademoiselle Moiselle : Le Chapeau à secrets 1999 Monsieur Monsieur et Mademoiselle Moiselle : Une semaine de Monsieur Monsieur 1999 Sur l'île des Zertes Awarded the SGDL 2000's Youth Book Grand Prize. 2000 Le Doudou méchant 2001 Tromboline et Foulbazar : Le petit Frère 2001 Le Chien et le Chat 2001 Tromboline et Foulbazar : Le Non 2001 Georges Lebanc 2002 Petit Prince Pouf Illustrations by Claude Ponti, text by Agnès Desarthe 2002 Schmélele et l'Eugénie des larmes 2003 La Revanche de Lili Prune 2004 Monsieur Monsieur et Mademoiselle Moiselle : Les Montres molles 2004 Monsieur Monsieur et Mademoiselle Moiselle : Le Réfrigogérateur 2004 Monsieur Monsieur et Mademoiselle Moiselle : Un thé d'été 2004 Blaise et le château d'Anne Hiversère Awarded the SNCF 2005 Youth Book Grand Prize. 2005 Mille secrets de poussins 2006 La Nuit des Zèfirottes 2007 Almanach Ouroulboulouck 2008 Catalogue de parents pour les enfants qui veulent en changer 2009 Bih-Bih et le Bouffron-Gouffron 2009 Tromboline et Foulbazar : Dans rien 2009 Tromboline et Foulbazar : L'avion 2010 Sœurs et frères 2011 Mô-Namour 2012 La Venture d’Isée 2014 L’Avie d’Isée 2014 Blaise et le kontrôleur de Kastatroffe 2015 L'Affreux moche Salétouflaire et les Ouloums-Pims 2016 Le Mystère des Nigmes 2017 La course en livre 2018 Le fleuve 2018 Enfances English translation: Childhoods. Illustrations by Claude Ponti. Written by Marie Desplechin. Biographies of various important real, fictional and legendary children, throughout history and culture. 2019 Mouha 2020 Voyage au pays des monstres 2021 Blaise, Isée et le Tue-planète 2023 Le Chemin 2023 Les mêmes, on rit ! A memory card-matching game, starring Ponti's chicklets. 2024 À l'aise, Blaise ! 2025 Olie-Boulie : Ma doudoue 2025 Olie-Boulie : Les papillonnes 2025 Olie-Boulie : La promenade 2025 Est-ce qu'on voit mieux les rêves si on dort avec ses lunettes ? English translation: Do we see dreams better if we sleep with our glasses? A compilation of humorous philosophical Q&A's for small children.

Novels for adults

Les Pieds-Bleus (1995); Published by Éditions de l'olivier Est-ce qu'hier n'est pas fini ? (1999); Published by Éditions de l'Olivier Le monde, et inversement (2006); Published by Éditions de l'Olivier Questions d'importance (2011); Published by publie.net

Novels for children

Broutille (1991); Published by L'École des loisirs (Mouche collection) Pochée (1994); Illustrations by Claude Ponti, written by Florence Seyvos, Published by L'École des loisirs (Mouche collection) Zénobie (1997); Published by L'École des loisirs (Neuf collection).

Theater plays La Trijolie 1 - La Pantoufle (2006); Published by L'École des loisirs La Trijolie 2 - Bonjour - Où sont les mamans ? (2006); Published by L'École des loisirs La Table (2011); Published by publie.net. La Tente (2012); Published by L'École des loisirs. Pluie Visage Soleil (2016); Published by L'École des loisirs.