The Canadian Julie Doucet won this Wednesday evening the Grand Prix of the City of Angoulême, the most prestigious consecration in comics. The 56-year-old Quebecer is rewarded for all of her work, essentially composed of fanzines where she gives free rein to a punk aesthetic and an unbridled imagination. The prestigious distinction was awarded this Wednesday, on the eve of the start of the festival itself, during the opening ceremony, a ceremony dedicated to Ukraine. In 2023, a major exhibition will therefore be devoted to her work in Angoulême, and the author, as usual, should produce one of the three official posters for the event.
Julie Doucet succeeds the American Chris Ware, designated in 2021. She is the third woman to receive this honor, which rewards the entire career of an author, after Florence Cestac in 2000 and the Japanese Rumiko Takahashi in 2019.
Three authors were in the running for this Grand Prix: the French Catherine Meurisse and Pénélope Bagieu, and therefore the Canadian Julie Doucet. It was the first time that the list of finalists was all female. In 2016, a pre-list of 30 exclusively male names, the selection composed by the artistic direction of the festival, had created a lively controversy. Since then, the designation system has changed.