Fifty years that comic book authors, still alive, have been crowned with the Grand Prix of the Angoulême International Comics Festival for all of their work and their imprint on the history of comics.
L’immense Franquin was rewarded in 1974 for the first edition, then the revolutionary Moebius in 1981 who turned everything upside down in Angoulême, Tardi in 1985 who already led a revolt of the profession, Robert Crumb and American underground culture in 1997 and so many others.
Since 2014, the FIBD Grand Prize has been awarded following a vote by the community of professional comic book authors. In alphabetical order, the three nominees selected for the second round 1 are: Alison Bechdel, Catherine Meurisse, Riad Sattouf.
Alison Bechdel
She is the least known of the three in France! For twenty years, Alison Bechdel built a discreet reputation in the US but globalized on the lesbian planet with her strip Dykes to Watch Out For (“Dykes to follow”). She exploded in 2006 with the publication of her first graphic novel Fun Home which will become a musical. In 2013, she published Are you my mom?, the second part of his parental diptych. In 2020, the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, pantheon of American comics welcomes him. She also gave her name to the “Bechdel test” which measures the degree of feminism in films. The Secret of Superhuman Strengthhis last album 2is also in the 2023 official selection. Alison Bechdel is my favorite!
Catherine Meurisse
Will Catherine Meurisse receive the 2023 Grand Prix of the Angoulême Comics Festival? The author, from Poitou-Charentes, is one of the three finalists for the fourth consecutive time 3. Born in 1980, she is a designer, author, caricaturist, reporter and illustrator of children’s books. Sharpening his gaze and his line for fifteen years in numerous press titles and, more particularly, in Charlie Hebdo, she makes many comics. She published in 2016 lightnessa moving story after the attack on the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo which she escaped. In 2019, she published Delacroix, a very personal graphic adaptation of the memoirs of Alexandre Dumas, a great friend of the painter Eugène Delacroix. His new album, the Young Woman and the Sea, questions the place of human beings in nature and the use of art to capture disappearing landscapes. She is a member of the Academy of Fine Arts.
Riad Sattouf
We no longer need to introduce Riad Sattouf which has just published volume 6 of its bestseller the Arabic of the future, album in official selection 2023 too. Born in 1978, Riad Sattouf is a comic book author and director. His childhood took place between Libya, Syria and Brittany. Winner of numerous international awards (Los Angeles Times Graphic Novel Prize, Award of Excellence at the Japan Media Arts Festival, etc.), it has been translated into twenty-three languages. Riad Sattouf is one of the rare authors to have twice won the Fauve d’or for best album at the FIBD in Angoulême, in 2010 and 2015.
