Bruno St-Aubin

Bruno St-Aubin is one of Canada’s most renowned children’s book illustrators. To date, he has written or illustrated over 130 picture books and novels. He is a master in the art of communicating with images and words and he loves getting a reaction – and a laugh – from both children and adults.

A native of Roxboro, northwest of Montreal, Bruno studied graphic design at Ahuntsic College and then attended the Academy of Art in San Francisco. Upon his return to Quebec, he illustrated a story for children and pursued film and animation. Since 1988, he has concentrated entirely on children’s literature. Bruno is as passionate about his work as he is about life, and both reflect his infectious humour, his warmth and his energy.

A father of two, Bruno loves speaking with young people when he does school visits. He is inspired by kids and by his own experiences as a father. Bruno also likes playing soccer and hockey, jogging, and cross-country skiing. It’s not surprising that he finds his days too short! Animals also hold an important place in his work and his life. For instance, he wrote and illustrated George’s Antlers (La panache du grand Georges), published by Scholastic, a picture book featuring many typically Canadian animals.

His other Scholastic books include the popular series featuring Nicholas: Hurry Up, Nicholas! Too Many Books!, Where’s My Hockey Sweater? and The Best Goalie Ever.

Too Many Books was a finalist for the OLA Blue Spruce Award and was selected by The Canadian Children’s Book Centre as the TD Grade One Book Giveaway, distributed to over 500,000 children across Canada!


A note from Bruno about his first “big break”!

“I was 10 years old when my mom decided she didn’t want to pay for gouache so that I could paint in my art class at school. I felt bad seeing all my friends painting while I was colouring with pencil. After three weeks of this, I decided to go to the bank and withdraw some money from my account. It was all the money I had at the time – four dollars! It was enough to buy gouache from the toy shop on the corner. As a very shy little boy, it was a BIG deal for me to do all this by myself. I hid the paint under my mattress. It left a bump on my bed. My mother discovered the treasure… she was very mad at me. And from then on, I needed my mom’s signature to get money from my bank account.

I still remember the blue paint smelled like rotten eggs. All my friends were complaining about the smell of my blue paint. Even the teacher asked me not to use my blue paint! I know now that a passion for drawing is very hard to forget. I didn’t know at the time that I would become a professional illustrator. It was not about talent, just a fundamental drive from deep inside.”