Claude Ponti

Claude Ponti (b. 1955, Épernay, France) is a French illustrator and author who has published more than fifty books since 1986, making him one of the most inventive and widely read figures in French children's literature. He studied at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris.

His debut, L'Album d'Adèle (L'École des loisirs, 1986) — created for his daughter — introduced a mode of pictorial storytelling in which formal visual invention and emotional directness are inseparable. His books — including Pétronille et ses 120 petits (1990), Mon Ami Jim (1990), Le Doudou méchant (1997), L'Arbre sans fin (1992), and Schmélele et l'eugélionne (2009) — construct elaborate imaginary worlds whose logic, humor, and visual density reward repeated reading by both children and adults. His method of visual narration, in which every corner of the page contains a secondary narrative in miniature, has become a recognizable signature and an influence on subsequent generations of illustrators.

Claude Ponti has collaborated with the Centre Pompidou and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and his books have been translated into many languages.