Joann Sfar

A comic artist and screenwriter, as well as a novelist and filmmaker, Joann Sfar does not let himself be confined by the boundaries of different disciplines. For over thirty years, he has produced a body of work that is as prolific as it is eclectic, in which philosophical reflection is constantly interwoven with storytelling, humor, and the fantastic. 

Born in Nice on August 28, 1971, into a family of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish descent, he pursued both a master’s degree in philosophy at the University of Nice and an artistic education simultaneously. In 1992, he completed his studies at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in the studio of painter Jean-François Debord, whose courses on morphology would have a lasting influence on his artistic style. 

His first comic strips appeared in 1994 in the magazine Lapin, published by L’Association. Based at the Atelier des Vosges alongside artists such as Emmanuel Guibert and Christophe Blain, he achieved his first critical success with La Fille du professeur (Dupuis,1997, with Guibert), which won the René Goscinny Prize and the Alph’Art Coup de cœur award at Angoulême. In 1998, he launched the series Donjon with Lewis Trondheim, followed by a string of series that have achieved cult status: Petit Vampire (Delcourt 1999–2005, then Rue de Sèvres 2017–2019), Le Chat du Rabbin (Dargaud, 2002–present), and Klezmer (Gallimard, 2005–2014). Beginning in 2005, he served as editor-in-chief of the Bayou imprint at Gallimard. 

In 2010, he made his directorial debut with Gainsbourg : vie héroïque (Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life), which won the César Award for Best First Feature Film, before adapting Le Chat du Rabbin (The Rabbi’s Cat) for the big screen, which won the César Award for Best Animated Film in 2012. A professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris since 2016 and named a Knight of the Legion of Honor that same year, Joann Sfar remains one of the most widely read authors of his generation, recognizable as much for his lively, dynamic artistic style as for his tireless passion for storytelling.