{{short description|French writer (1895–1982)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}} {{Infobox writer | name = Rose Celli | image = Rose Celli 1933.jpg | imagesize = | alt = | caption = Celli, 1933 | pseudonym = | birth_name = Rose Angéline Alexandrine Brua | birth_date = March 1895 | birth_place = Philippeville, Algeria | death_date = {{Death year and age|1982|1895}} | death_place = Saint Paul de Vence, France | occupation = {{Cslist|Novelist|playwright|translator|poet}} | nationality = | alma_mater = | genre = {{Cslist|Fiction|children's literature}} | spouse = Elmiro Celli }}
'''Rose Angéline Alexandrine Celli''' ({{nee|'''Brua'''}}; March 1895 – 1982) was a French novelist, playwright, translator and poet. She wrote children's books, poetry and novels for adults, and is best known for her children's books published as part of the {{ill|Père Castor|fr}} series.
==Early life and education== Celli was born in Philippeville, Algeria, in March 1895.<ref>{{cite web |title=Algérie PHILIPPEVILLE 1895 |url=http://anom.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/caomec2/osd.php?territoire=ALGERIE&acte=1365136 |website=Archives nationales d'outre-mer |access-date=19 March 2024 |language=fr}}</ref> Her father was of Alsatian heritage and her mother was Corsican.<ref name="L'Echo">{{cite news |title=Rose Celli |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k7584154z/f3.item.r=celli.zoom |access-date=19 March 2024 |work=L'Écho d'Alger |date=9 April 1935 |language=French}}</ref><ref name="Les Livres">{{cite news |title=Les Livres |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k578896r/f4.item.r=celli.zoom |access-date=19 March 2024 |work=Le Matin |issue=18,868 |date=17 November 1935 |page=4 |language=fr}}</ref> She spent four years at secondary school in Philippeville, after which she moved to France and attended a preparatory course at a high school in Versailles.<ref name="L'Echo"/>
She subsequently entered the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles, intending to become a teacher.<ref name="L'Echo"/> She was a classmate of Suzanne Febvre, the wife of Lucien Febvre. Celli did not graduate, however, due to a disagreement with the school's administration. She was later paid to undertake copy-editing of Lucien Febvre's ''Encyclopédie française''.<ref name="Davis">{{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Natalie Zemon |title=Women and the World of the Annales |journal=History Workshop Journal |date=1992 |issue=33 |pages=123–131 |url=http://smjegupr.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Davis-Natalie-Zemon.-Women-and-the-World-of-the-Annales.pdf |access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref> Around the time of leaving the École she married the painter Elmiro Celli (1870–1958).<ref name="Autor"/><ref name="Dussert"/>
==Literary career== In 1929, Celli received the Prix de la Liberté literary award for her fantasy story ''Le Bateau de Pierre''.<ref name="Autor">{{cite news |last=Tery |first=Simone |title=Autor d'un prix litteraire: Rose Celli |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6450531t/f11.item.zoom |access-date=18 March 2024 |work=Les Nouvelles littéraires, artistiques et scientifiques |date=22 June 1929 |page=10 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="premiere">{{cite news |title=La première pièce de Rose Celli |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4102661d/f2.item.r=prix%20litteraires%22rose%20celli%22.zoom |access-date=18 March 2024 |work=La Liberté |date=14 April 1932 |language=fr |page=2}}</ref> She had entered this competition on the encouragement of a fellow student at the École.<ref name="L'Echo"/> Her first novel, ''Comme l'eau'', was published by Editions du Tambourin in 1930,<ref>{{cite news |title=Comme L'eau |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6267910/f2.item.r=celli.zoom |access-date=19 March 2024 |work=Le Petit Parisien |date=17 October 1930 |language=fr |page=2}}</ref> and it was followed by the collection of short stories published by Flammarion in 1931, ''Le chale indien''.<ref name="L'Echo"/><ref name="Ratel">{{cite news |last1=Ratel |first1=Simonne |title=Rose Celli |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k61254428/f15.image.r=celli |access-date=19 March 2024 |work=La Femme de France |date=7 May 1933 |page=13 |language=fr}}</ref> A copy of the latter is held in the Princeton University Rare Books Collection, and is hand-dedicated to Sylvia Beach.<ref name="Davis"/> She also wrote poetry; some of her poems were published in the magazine ''Europe''.<ref name="Ratel"/><ref name="Dussert"/>
In 1932, she was one of the first authors to contribute to the {{ill|Père Castor|fr}} children's book series, published by Flammarion.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Conrad |first1=JoAnn |title=Modernity and Modernism in Twentieth-Century American Picturebooks |journal=International Research in Children's Literature |date=December 2019 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=127–153 |doi=10.3366/ircl.2019.0306 |url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/ircl.2019.0306?src=recsys&journalCode=ircl |access-date=19 March 2024|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Her works for this series included animal stories, a version of ''Goldilocks and the Three Bears'', and a story about Baba Yaga, illustrated by Nathalie Parain.<ref name="L'Echo"/><ref name="Ratel"/><ref name="Dussert"/> ''Baba Yaga'' was translated into English and published in the United States in 1935.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lévêque |first1=Mathilde |title=Quand les souris dînent au clair de lune et que les chats font des chiens : réflexions sur le statut de l'œuvre originale dans quelques albums traduits pour la jeunesse |url=https://journals.openedition.org/trans/1706?lang=en |access-date=19 March 2024 |language=fr |journal=Traduction et transfiguration: Voir, lire, traduire |issue=22 |date=2017 |doi=10.4000/trans.1706|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Also in 1932, Celli's first play, ''L'enfant Voilé'' premiered at the Albert Theatre in Paris, in three acts. It was performed by the theatre group L'Exposition d'Art Dramatique<ref name="premiere"/><ref name="L'Echo"/><ref name="Dussert">{{cite web |last1=Dussert |first1=Eric |title=La Rose de Philippeville |url=https://lmda.net/2018-03-mat19154-rose_celli |website=Le Matricule des Anges |access-date=19 March 2024 |language=fr |date=March 2018}}</ref> A review in ''La Liberté'' newspaper described it as similar in style to the work of Henrik Ibsen.<ref name="premiere"/>
In 1933, Celli received the Prix Minerva award for her novel ''Isola'',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brandt |first1=Joseph A. |title=Literary Landmarks of 1933 |journal=Books Abroad |date=January 1934 |volume=8 |issue=1 |page=31 |doi=10.2307/40074838 |jstor=40074838 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40074838 |access-date=18 March 2024|url-access=subscription }}</ref> a historical work set in the Corsican mountains.<ref name="L'Echo"/> The award came with a prize of 5,000 francs.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mme Rose Celli désignée par le jury de « Minerva » |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4697790q/f2.item.r=celli |access-date=19 March 2024 |work=Le Peuple |date=22 March 1933 |page=2 |language=fr}}</ref> Her 1935 book ''L'envers du tapis'' featured stories of her childhood growing up in Algeria.<ref name="Les Livres"/> In later years, Celli translated a number of English works into French under the name R Brua, including a translation of ''Not So Quiet'' by Evadne Price (written as Helen Zenna Smith) and ''The Fun of It'' by Amelia Earhart.<ref name="L'Echo"/><ref name="Dussert"/>
==Death== Celli died in 1982 in Saint Paul de Vence.<ref name="Dussert"/>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Celli, Rose}}
Category:1895 births Category:1982 deaths Category:People from Philippeville Category:French people of Corsican descent Category:20th-century French novelists Category:20th-century French women novelists Category:20th-century French poets Category:20th-century French women poets Category:20th-century French dramatists and playwrights Category:French women dramatists and playwrights Category:French children's writers Category:French women children's writers Category:20th-century French translators Category:English–French translators