Frané Lessac is a U.S.-born author, illustrator and painter who lives in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. She has published many

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

s and won numerous awards for her illustrations.

Early life

Lessac grew up in

Cliffside Park, New Jersey Cliffside Park is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 25,693, an increase of 2,099 (+8.9%) from the 2010 census count of 23,594, which in turn reflecte ...

, a small town outside

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. As a child, she spent many weekends in museums and galleries. At the age of 18 she moved to

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

, to study

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

film at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. She worked at many jobs to finance her studies, including projectionist at the local cinema. Lessac moved to the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

island of

Montserrat Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...

in 1979, where she began her career as a painter. Inspired by the beauty of the island, she concentrated on painting the old

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

architecture and its people. In 1983 Lessac left Montserrat and moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where she began to exhibit regularly and published her first book, ''My Little Island'' (1984), which was a compilation of her paintings of Montserrat and her "

love letter A love letter is an expression of love in written form. However delivered, the letter may be anything from a short and simple message of love to a lengthy explanation and description of feelings. History One of the oldest references to a l ...

" to the island.

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 the state of

, where she relocated with her husband, author and musician Mark Greenwood. In 1989 she created the illustration for the cover of the fund-raising album ''After The Hurricane – Songs For Montserrat''. In 2002 Lessac founded a Western Australian Branch of the

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization that acts as a network for the exchange of knowledge between writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, agents, librarians, educators, booksellers ...

, and she has served on the executive committee of the

Australian Society of Authors The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) was formed in 1963 as the organisation to promote and protect the rights of Australia's authors and illustrators. The Fellowship of Australian Writers played a key role it its establishment. The organisati ...

Recognition

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 A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

WA Branch. Her first book, ''My Little Island'', became a feature book on the popular U.S television program

Reading Rainbow ''Reading Rainbow'' is an American educational children's television series that originally aired on PBS and afterward PBS Kids from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with reruns continuing to air until August 28, 2009. 155 30-minute episodes ...

. In 2002 Lessac won the

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an annual book award provided by the Government of Western Australia, and managed by the State Library of Western Australia. History and format Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the Wes ...

for ''The Legend of

Moondyne Joe Joseph Bolitho Johns ( February 1826 – 13 August 1900), better known as Moondyne Joe, was an English convicts in Australia, convict and Western Australia's best-known bushranger. Born into poor and relatively difficult circumstances, he became ...

''. ''Simpson and his Donkey'' was nominated as an Honour book in the Children's Book of the Year Award: Eve Pownall Award for Information Books Both books were written by her husband and frequent collaborator, Mark Greenwood.

Personal life and family

Lessac is married to Mark Greenwood, also an author of children's books, and they are parents to film producer Cody Greenwood. Cody's most recent film, ''

Under the Volcano ''Under the Volcano'' is a novel by the English writer Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957) published in 1947. It tells the story of Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic British Consulate general, consul in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca, Quauhnahuac on the D ...

'', a documentary about the AIR Montserrat recording studios, arose from memories of the family's frequent visits to Montserrat as she was growing up in the 1990s and 2000s. Lessac returned to Montserrat in August 2019, while Cody was filming, and again in 2024.

Selected works

As illustrator

* ''The Dragon of

Redonda Redonda is an List of uninhabited regions, uninhabited Caribbean island which is a dependency of Saint John, Antigua and Barbuda, in the Leeward Islands, West Indies. The island is about long, wide, and is high at its highest point. It lie ...

'' 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 Carnival'' songs by Irving Burgie (1992) * ''The Fire Children'' retold by Eric Maddern (1993) * ''Little Gray One''by

Jan Wahl Jan Boyer Wahl (April 1, 1931 - January 29, 2019) was an American children's author. He was a prolific author of over 120 works, and was known primarily for his award-winning children's books, including ''Pleasant Fieldmouse'', ''The Furious Fl ...

(1993) * ''Not A Copper Penny'' by Monica Gunning (1993) * ''Magic Boomerang'' by Mark Greenwood (1994) * ''Wonderful Towers of Watts''by 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

'' 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) * ''Pattan's Pumpkin'' Chitra Soundar & Frané Lessac (2016) *''We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga'' Traci Sorell & Frané Lessac (2018) * ''We Are Still Here'' Traci Sorell & Frané Lessac (2021) *''Ancient Wonders'' Mark Greenwood & Frané Lessac (2022) * ''Where History Happened'' Mark Greenwood & Frané Lessac (2023) * ''Cattle Muster'' Dianne Wolfer & Frané Lessac (2025)

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) * ''A is for Australian Animals (2017)'' *''Under the Southern Cross'' (2018) *''Australian Baby Animals'' (2019) *''Under the Milky Way'' (2019) *''Australia Under the Sea 1, 2, 3'' (2020) * ''A is for Australian Reefs '' (2022) * ''The Big Book of Australian Nursery Rhymes'' (2024) * ''The Little Book of Australian Nursery Rhymes'' (2025)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lessac, Frane 1954 births American emigrants to Australia American children's writers Australian children's writers Living people People from Cliffside Park, New Jersey Writers from Bergen County, New Jersey