Tributes after the announcement of the death of Bernadette Després, mother of Tom-Tom and Nana

After the announcement of the death of Bernadette Després, designer in particular of Tom-Tom and Nanapersonalities from Loiret and the cultural world react, highlighting her contribution to the world of children's literature, her generosity and the links she had forged around Givraines, where she had lived since 1974.

Jean Anguera, sculptormember of the Academy of Fine Arts, resident of Givraines, met her in 1983 during an exhibition in Pithiviers. He says he is “very moved”: “She was a very dear friend, as well as her husband (Denis Charignon, died in 2017).

She always said 'I was very lucky, how many people get into comics and can't make a living from it'. It pains me a lot that the album of his life is closing.”

The sculptor also made the stele under which Denis Charignon rests at the Givraines cemetery, and will soon rest Bernadette Després. He says: “It was in 1988, we had a car, the mechanic told us “we have to change it, it's over”. Denis was passing by and told us “I'm buying you a new car, in return , I just bought a plot at the cemetery, I would like you to make a sculpture”.

In 2023, a new children's book with drawings by Bernadette Després, the mother of Tom-Tom and Nana

Arnaud Parent, co-founder of the Théâtre des Minuits troupe, in La Neuville-sur-Essonne: “I am very moved, very sad, knowing that we will no longer see her, no longer hear her very special voice… She was an artist major, certainly not an artist of a minor art. She profoundly evolved children's literature. We saw her regularly at the Théâtre des Minuits. I didn't read her albums in my childhood. Tintinbut then I discovered this. And I got to know her, as well as Denis, her husband.”

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The Loiret Department also paid tribute to the artist on social networks:

Dimitri Crozet