Charles Perrault ! Father of fairy tales (1628-1703)

• If you’ve ever read a story that begins with “Once upon a time…” then there’s a good chance you’ve come across the work of  Charles Perrault whose 388th birthday

• Charles Perrault born on 12 January 1628 into a wealthy family in paris the seventh child of Pierre Perrault and Paquette Le Clerc, studied law and enjoyed a successful career as a civil servant.

• He was a French author and member of the French academy in 1671. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales.

• He married Marie Guichon, age 19, in 1672; she died in 1678.

• In 1695, when he was 67, Perrault lost his post as secretary. He decided to dedicate himself to his children.

•  In 1697 he published Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals,subtitled Tales of Mother Goose. He borrowed several elements from stories that were already widely narrated, but provided what were then modern twists to the narrative. Moreover, the act of presenting them in written form was itself an unprecedented move at the time, and made him a true pioneer of storytelling.

• These tales, based on French popular tradition, were very popular in sophisticated court circles. Its publication made him suddenly very widely known and he is often credited as the founder of the modern fairy tale genre

• He had actually published his collection under the name of his last son (born in 1678), Pierre (Perrault) Darmancourt

• Charles Perrault died in Paris in 1703 at the age of 75. On 12 January 2016