Art Spiegelman wins Grand Prix at Angoulême

Art Spiegelman has won the Grand Prix at this year’s Angoulême comics festival, meaning he will be the “grand marshal” for next year’s festival, setting the pace for the whole show.

Spiegelman is best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning MAUS, as well as editing the groundbreaking anthology RAW. In recent year’s he’s become the generational spokesman for literary comics, while continuing to draw and edit influential books, such as this year’s collection of Lynd Ward’s wordless graphic novels.

“Considering my poor skills, I’m looking a little like the president Obama receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” Spiegelman told the festival by telephone.

“I’ve learned so much from the French comics,” he added, hailing the festival held in the west of comic-crazy France, before adding a Gallic expletive to celebrate his win.

“As my French wife said when she got the news: ‘Merde’!”

Robert Crumb and Will Eisner are the previous Americans to win the prize.

The main prize winners (allowing for our bad translations):

Prix du Patrimoine (Legacy Award — best reprint))
Attilio Micheluzzi, Bab-el-Mandeb (Editions Mosquito).
 
Prix Révélation 2011 (Best New Series)
 La Parenthèse, d’Elodie Durand (Editions Delcourt) & Trop n’est pas assez, de Ulli Lust (Editions Ça et là) ! ex aequo.


Prix de l’Audace :
Brecht Evens, avec son album Les Noceurs (éditions Actes Sud BD).
 
Prix Regards sur le Monde :


Joe Sacco, pour Gaza 1956 – En marge de l’histoire (Editions Futuropolis).
 
Prix Intergénérations (International Award)


Naoki Urasawa pour l’album Pluto, d’après Osamu Tezuka (éditions Kana).
 
Prix de la série (Best Series):

Il était une fois en France tome 4 – Aux armes, citoyens ! (Editions Glénat) by Fabien Nury and Sylvain Vallée.
 
Prix du Public (The public prize, voted on by attndees)


Julie MarohLe Bleu est une couleur chaude (Editions Glénat).
 
Prix Spécial du Jury (Special Jury Prize) :

David Mazzucchelli for Asterios Polyp (Editions Casterman).
 

Fauve d’Or (Golden Prize)

Manuele Fior for Cinq mille kilomètres par seconde (Editions Atrabile).