Émile Bravo

Émile Bravo was born in 1964, the son of Spanish immigrants in Paris. Following his training in technical drawing he worked in illustration and in advertising before his literary breakthrough came with the publication of »Ivoire« (1990, t: Ivory) in the Collection Atomium ’58. In 1992 he joined the studio collective »Nawak«. Alongside his long-term companion Jean Regnaud, he created the series »Les véritables aventures d’Aleksis Strogonov« (1993-1998, t: The True Adventures of Aleksis Strogonov). He became known to a wider audience with the series »Les épatantes aventures de Jules« (1999-2006, t: Jules’ Famous Adventures).

In works like the fairy tale »Boucle d’or et les sept ours nains« (2004, t: The Golden Ring and the Seven Dwarf Bears) he pursued his commitment to the development of comics as a genre and its link to the children’s books category, creating a new literary form. His most recently published work »Ma maman est en Amérique, elle a rencontré Buffalo Bill« (2007, t: My Mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill) is just such a genre-crossing project. The specialist journal »Eselsohr« wrote: »The perspective shows the children as extremely small, the adults very big. The texts are largely descriptive, classic dialogues in speech bubbles are used sparingly, and when used, they serve to heighten a specific situation. There is no experimentation in the picture design.« The six year-old Jean, whose mother is in an unknown location and whose father is away from home on business almost all of the time, feels compelled to present his wild speculations about his mother as the truth when he is asked about his parents and their jobs in school.

Émile Bravo gained recognition in 2008 with his book »Spirou, le journal d’un ingénu« (2008, t: Spirou, Diary of a Naive Boy) and its concept, which consciously abandoned the narrow world of the series to date and its neglect of current affairs. In addition, he introduced a psychological level to the narrative. In this historical and political coming of age novel, the reader learns how the naive young hotel busboy became an adventurer.

Émile Bravo was awarded the Prix René Goscinny for best young author in 2002, and the Prix du Festival Quai des Bulles – Prix Petit Robert in 2005. His children’s book »Ma maman est en Amérique, elle a rencontré Buffalo Bill« won a prize in 2008 at the Comic Salon in Angoulême. He lives and works in Paris.

© international literaturefestival berlin

Ivoire: Les tribulations de
Joost Vanlabecke
[mit: Jean Régnaud]
Magic strip
Paris, 1990

Les véritables aventures
d’Aleksis Strogonov:
Intégrale
Dargaud
Paris, 2004

Spirou & Fantasio Spezial:
Porträt eines Helden
als junger Tor
Carlsen Comics
Hamburg, 2009

[Ü: Martin Budde]

Meine Mutter ist in
Amerika und hat
Buffalo Bill getroffen
[mit: Jean Régnaud]
Carlsen
Hamburg, 2009
[Ü: Kai Wilksen]

Bye-bye Bush
[mit: Guillaume Bouzard,
Diego Aranega u.a.]
Dargaud
Paris, 2009