Frané Lessac

Frané Lessac is a U.S born author, illustrator and painter who currently lives and works in Western Australia. Frané Lessac has published over 40 books for children and won numerous awards for her illustrations.^[1] Frané Lessac currently resides in Fremantle, Western Australia.

Early life

Frané Lessac grew up in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, a small town outside of New York City. As a child, she spent many weekends in the world’s finest museums and galleries. At eighteen, Lessac headed west to live in Malibu, California and study Ethnographic film at USC and UCLA. She worked hard to finance her studies working at many jobs including projectionist at the local Malibu cinema, a chauffeur in Beverly Hills, and fertilising cacti with a silver spoon at a desert nursery. On completing her studies, she moved to the Caribbean island of Montserrat where she began her career as a painter. Inspired by the islands visual beauty, Lessac concentrated on painting the old West Indian architecture and its people. Frané next moved to London where she began to exhibit regularly and published her first book, My Little Island, which was a compilation of her paintings of Montserrat.

Career

After My Little Island, Lessac went on to publish a number of children's books, initially in the U.K, the U.S and later in Australia where she relocated with her husband, author and musician Mark Greenwood.^[2] Her first book, My Little Island, was named Children's Book of the Year by the St Martins Children's Book Council and also became a feature book on the popular U.S television program Reading Rainbow. In 2002 Lessac won the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards for The Legend of Moondyne Joe^[3] was nominated as an Honor book in the Children's Book of the Year Award: Eve Pownall Award for Information Books ^[4] for Simpson and his Donkey both of which were written by her husband and frequent collaborator, Mark Greenwood. In 2002 Frané Lessac founded a Western Australian Branch of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.^[5] Frané has served on the executive committee of the Australian Society of Authors. For her contribution to children's literature in Western Australia Lessac was awarded the 2010 Muriel Barwell Award by the Children's Book Council of Australia WA Branch.^[6]

Books

As illustrator

• The Dragon of Redonda by Jan Jackson (1986)
• The Chalk Doll by Charlotte Pomerantz (1989)
• The Bird Who Was An Elephant by Aleph Kamal (1989)
• The Turtle and The Island by Barbra Ker Wilson (1990)
• Nine O'Clock Lullaby by Marilyn Singer (1990)
• Caribbean Carnivalsongs by Irving Burgie (1992)
• The Fire Children retold by Eric Maddern (1993)
• Little Gray Oneby Jan Wahl (1993)
• Not A Copper Penny by Monica Gunning (1993)
• Magic Boomerang by Mark Greenwood (1994)
• Wonderful Towers of Wattsby Patricia Zelver (1994)
• Outback Adventure by Mark Greenwood (1994)
• The Distant Talking Drum by Isaac Olaleye (1994)
• Good Rhymes Good Times by Lee Bennett Hopkins (1995)
• Our Big Island by Mark Greenwood (1995)
• O Christmas Tree! by Vashanti Rahaman (1996)
• Queen Esther Saves Her People Rita Gelman (1998)
• On the Same Day in March by Marilyn Singer (2000)
• The Legend of Moondyne Joe Mark Greenwood & Frané Lessac (2002)
• Capital! Washington D-C from A-Z by Laura Melmed (2003)
• Maui and the Big Fish by Barbra Ker Wilson (2003)
• New York- The Big Apple from A-Z by Laura Melmed (2005)
• Monday on the Mississippi by Marilyn Singer (2005)
• The Day of the Elephant by Barbra Ker Wilson (2005)
• Simpson and his Donkey Mark Greenwood & Frané Lessac (2008)
• Clouds by Anne Rockwell (2008)
• Heart of Texas by Laura Melmed (2009)
• Ned Kelly and the Green Sash Mark Greenwood & Frané Lessac (2010)
• The Greatest Liar on Earth Mark Greenwood & Frané Lessac (2012)
• The Drummer Boy of John John Mark Greenwood & Frané Lessac (2012)
• The Book Boat's In Cynthia Cotten & Frané Lessac (2013)
• Midnight Mark Greenwood & Frané Lessac (2014)
• The Mayflower Mark Greenwood & Frané Lessac (2014)
• A is for Australia (2015)^[7]
• Pattan's Pumpkin Chitra Soundar & Frané Lessac (2016)

As author and illustrator

• My Little Island (1984)
• Caribbean Canvas (1987)
• Caribbean Alphabet (1989)
• Camp Granada (2003)
• Island Counting 1-2-3 (2005)
• A is for Australia (2015)

References