The Canada Council for the Arts has announced the winners of the annual Governor-General’s Awards and the award to Children’s fiction (French language) has gone to ISABELLE ARSENAULT, illustrator of the critically acclaimed and award-winning book Jane, le renard et moi (or Jane, The Fox & Me in English). This is her 3rd Governor-General’s Award win.

The winner of each category receives $25,000 as well as a specially bound copy of his or her book. Publishers of each winning book receives $3,000 for promotional purposes.

While the winners were announced yesterday, ceremonies honouring both English- and French-language winners will take place in Ottawa on November 28th.

From her bio:

Isabelle Arsenault is an illustrator who studied Graphic Design at the Université du Québec à Montréal (2001).  After her studies, she quickly contributed to several magazines in Canada and the United-States.  In 2004, Isabelle illustrated her first children’s book, for which she received the prestigious Governor General’s Award for children’s litterature in French (illustration).  Her passion for illustrated books has led her more and more to continue pursuing this path.  Since then, she was a finalist on two other occasions for the GG’s (“My Letter to the World”, “Migrant”), finalist for the Marilyn Baillie Award in 2011 (“Spork”) and her book “Migrant” is among the 10 best illustrated books of 2011 according to The New York Times.  In 2012, she received her second Governor General’s Award for the illustrations of “Virginia Wolf” in addition to winning Le Prix jeunesse des libraires du Québec for “Fourchon” (French version of “Spork”).

Isabelle, who enjoys working intuitively, adopts an approach to her work that is inspired by the projects she is given.  Her style is infused with sensitivity and finesse.  It attracts the attention of the young as much as that of older people, who can sometimes have a more in-depth understanding of it. Isabelle Arsenault lives and works in Montreal.

Jane, le renard & moi,  is written by Fanny Britt, published by La Pastèque and in English by Groundwood Books as Jane, The Fox & Me is a critically acclaimed and award-winning bande dessinée.

Britt and Arsenault both won Joe Shuster Awards this past August in the categories of Writer and Artist, respectively. Earlier in the year they won the Prix Réal-Fillion (at the Prix Bedeis Causa) and the Prix Bédélys Québec.