Charles Perrault (12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was a French writer.
Perrault was born in Paris to a wealthy bourgeois family, son of Pierre Perrault.
His brother, Claude Perrault, is known as the architect of the severe east range of the Louvre, built between 1665 and 1680.
Charles attended the best schools and studied law before embarking on a career in government service.
He took part in the creation of the Academy of Sciences as well as the restoration of the Academy of Painting.
He had three sons and one daughter.
In 1663, Perrault was appointed as a secretary and served under Jean Baptiste Colbert, finance minister to King Louis XIV.
In 1695, when he was 67 years old, he lost his post as secretary.
He dedicated himself to his children and published Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals, with the subtitle: Tales of Mother Goose.
The publications of his work made him suddenly widely-known and marked the beginnings of a new literary genre, the fairy tale.
Perrault's tales were mostly adapted from earlier folk tales.
He died in Paris, France in 1703 at the age of 75.
