Igort

Igor Tuveri was born in 1958 in Cagliari on Sardinia. He is known as a comic author under the pseudonym »Igort«. When he was twenty, he moved to Bologne where his career began and, in 1978, he published works in »Linus«, the first Italian comic magazine that was aimed especially at an adult readership. In the years following this, he founded the independent magazines »Il Pinguino« und »Dolce Vita« with Daniele Brolli, Roberto Baldazzini, Lorenzo Mattotti and Giorgio Carpinteri. They formed the »Valvoline« artists‘ collective, which was soon to be joined by American cartoonist Charles Burns.

The slim volume »Il letargo dei sentimenti« (1993: tr. The lethargy of the senses) is among the first of his titles to be available in German. Igort is also one of the first European comic authors to have published in Japan. In 1994, he took part in the Biennale in Venice. And he was commissioned with the concept development for the Japanese Manga publisher Kōdansha in the »Yuri« series (1996). In 2000, he finally founded his own publishing house, Coconino Press, in which he not only releases new works by international authors and illustrators, but also genre classics, such as Jacques Tardi, Daniel Clowes and Adrian Tomine. In his graphic novels and series, he mixes different techniques, often doing without larger text blocks over several pages and thus creating an atmosphere that is generated purely by the power of the illustrations. For »Fats Waller« (2004), he took his inspiration from Film Noir, among other genres, while the historical background of this thirties panorama that revolves around jazz pianist Waller also plays a significant role. Between 2008 and 2009, Igort travelled through the Ukraine, Russia and Siberia, carrying out research for his two volumes »Quaderni ucraini« (2010; tr. Reports from the Ukraine. Memories of USSR times) and »Quaderni russi« (2011; tr. Reports from Russia. The forgotten war in the Caucasus). In these, he combines illustrations with longer passages of text with great virtuosity, creating a compelling documentary portrait between past and present.

Igort has received prizes at numerous festivals for his comic novels. »Cinque è il numero perfetto« (2002; tr. 5 is the perfect number) was named Comic of the Year in 2003 at the Frankfurter Book Fair and, in 2011, he was given the Special Prize of the jury at the Comic Festival in Naples. In Treviso, he won two prizes in the same year, among others for »Baobab« as the best series. He was also a member of the jury at the Festival d’Angoulême in 2011. In addition to his artistic and publishing activities, he has also worked as an author and a presenter in Italian radio (RAI) and has written scripts. Igort lives in Paris.

© internationales literaturfestival berlin

5 ist die perfekte Zahl
avant
Berlin, 2002
[Ü: Ingrid Ickler]

Fats Waller
[Mit Carlos Sampayo]
avant
Berlin, 2005
Baobab
avant
Berlin, 2005

Berichte aus der Ukraine
Erinnerungen an die Zeit der UdSSR
Reprodukt
Berlin, 2011
[Ü: Giovanni Peduto]

Berichte aus Russland
Der vergessene Krieg im Kaukasus
Reprodukt
Berlin, 2012
[Ü: Federica Matteoni]

www.igort.com