Canadian "underground" comic book artist Julie Doucet has been awarded the 'Grand Prix' in Angouleme, eastern France.
The 49th edition of the Angouleme international comics festival opened on 16 March with a concert of drawings "dedicated to Ukraine".
On this occasion, the most prestigious prize in the comics world was awarded to Canada's Julie Doucet.
"I would like to dedicate this prize to all women authors of the past, present and future," said Doucet.
The 56-year-old is only the fourth woman to have her name on the Angouleme Prize list, after France's Claire Bretécher and Florence Cestac and Japan's Rumiko Takahashi.
"It all started from almost nothing, a little fanzine in the 80s with a not very clear title. And here I am in Angouleme, I have won the most important prize in the comic book industry," she said at the opening ceremony of the Festival, at the Théâtre National d'Angoulême.
Julie Doucet, Grand prix d’Angoulême 2022 : “Je voudrais dédier ce prix à toutes les autrices du passé, du présent et du futur.”#FIBD #FIBD2022 #angoulême @lassociation pic.twitter.com/THEFVIkEWG
— Festival d'Angoulême (@bdangouleme) March 16, 2022
Julie Doucet is best known for the expressionist, even trashy, fanzines she published some 30 years ago called "Dirty Plotte".
Now almost impossible to find, and an object of worship for many women cartoonists, this work was brought back to light in November thanks to its publication called "Maxiplotte", a 400 pages book, mostly in black and white with explicit content in it.
Julie Doucet was voted in by her peers, ahead of two Frenchwomen, Pénélope Bagieu and Catherine Meurisse, who had already been beaten in the final the previous year by US graphic novelist Chris Ware.
