Geneviève Elverum ( Gosselin; April 9, 1981 – July 9, 2016), also known as Geneviève Castrée, was a Canadian cartoonist, illustrator, and musician from Quebec.
An early admirer of comics, she began creating them at a young age.
Geneviève Gosselin was born in Loretteville, Quebec, in 1981.
She grew up reading Tintin comics from an early age, so much so that she eventually entered, studied for, and won a Tintin competition.
From an early age, she was drawing comics influenced by artists she loved, including Hergé, Renée French, Chester Brown, Julie Doucet, and Argentinian artist Quino.
Doucet in particular had a significant influence on Castrée, influencing her character design and lettering style.
When Gosselin was five, her father left her and her mother.
At age fifteen, Gosselin traveled around Canada and reunited with her absentee father.
Although their relationship was strained, Gosselin's father did build her a log cabin to live in.
In her teens, Gosselin, without formal training, began her cartooning career, publishing minicomics and adopting the name Geneviève Castrée.
Gosselin had a troubled relationship with her mother, experiencing both a deep connection and feelings of alienation and belittlement.
Her relationship with her father was less contentious but also less intimate.
2000
L'Oie de Cravan published her first book, Lait Frappé, in 2000.
In 2000, Montréal publisher L'Oie de Cravan published her first book, Lait Frappé, followed by Die Fabrik that same year and Roulatheque Roulatheque Nicolore in 2001, but it was Pamplemoussi in 2004 that served as her artistic breakthrough.
The release marked her first major movement to integrate her music and visual art into one cohesive practice.
2003
In 2003, Castrée met musician Phil Elverum, and the two married the following year.
2004
By 2004 she had released three more books—Die Fabrik, Roulatheque Roulatheque Nicolore and Pamplemoussi.
The latter is considered her artistic breakthrough.
2012
Her 2012 book Susceptible gave her international success and was followed by a book of poems in French entitled Maman Sauvage in 2015.
Her next two works A Bubble and Maman Apprivoisée were both released posthumously.
She also recorded a total of eight albums under the name Woelv and Ô Paon (stylized in all caps).
In 2012, Castrée released Susceptible, a graphic novel that chronicles her childhood growing up in Quebec through the character of Goglu, her childhood nickname.
It was released to critical acclaim and saw her achieve international success, as well as helping her feel "unburdened" by her memories of her mother.
2015
In 2015, she gave birth to their only child.
That same year, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
In 2015, Maman Sauvage, a book of poems in French detailing Castrée's feelings as a mother, was published by L'Oie de Cravan under the name Geneviève Elverum.
2016
She died in 2016.
Elverum later recorded a series of albums centered around her life and death.
Following her death, Castrée was included in The Best American Comics 2016, edited by Roz Chast.
2017
In 2017, her final book, A Bubble, was posthumously published by Drawn & Quarterly, having been completed by Portland artist Anders Nilsen and Elverum.
They were initially wary about finishing it but concluded that it would be better for the book to be in a state of "easy readability rather than burden it with the awkward unfinished look, too cloaked in its context to be functional as a standalone thing."
Castrée left instructions for its creation after her death.
According to Elverum, she worked on it until her "literal final days".
The book was created for her daughter as a gift, although she did intend for it to be published.
It centers around their relationship and Castrée's struggle with cancer, which she compares to living in a bubble.
It features sparse text and is instead primarily told via an image per page.
It concludes with an afterword by Elverum.
Elverum noted that its creation was Castrée's way of coping.
2018
A book of poems entitled Maman Apprivoisée was released in 2018.
It consists of 44 poems written in French and English.
